All In Your Head
by An illiterate peasant
Summary: Frisk woke up in their bed. Their old bed. Had their whole adventure been a dream? Perhaps. But does that really mean that none of it was real? The monsters they met along the way certainly don't seem to think so. (Original post-pacifist AU. Rated T to be on the safe side.)
1. Awakening

"What? Frisk... You really are a funny child. If you had said that earlier, none of this would have happened. It is a good thing you took so long to change your mind. Hee hee hee. Well... I suppose. If you really do not have any other place to go... I will do my best to take care of you, for as long as you need. All right? Now, come along."

Frisk happily took Toriel's hand and followed her. It was comforting, having nothing to worry about, being led by a wise, friendly old lady they had only recently come to trust, walking under the rising sun towards a new life. It took a few tries, but they had finally done it. They got their happy ending, despite everything. Everyone was going to the surface. _Well, maybe not everyone,_ Frisk corrected their own thoughts with a melancholy note, glancing back at the entrance in the mountain they had emerged from.

Well, it couldn't be helped. As Asriel himself put it, you can't regret hard choices your whole life. They truly had tried everything to help him, allow him to become whole again, rejoin his family in a happy reunion. But in the end, there was nothing. Leaving him behind in the rapidly emptying Underground to spend the rest of his days as a soulless flower certainly wasn't what they had hoped to achieve, but that seemed to be all they could do at this point. _Maybe I'll come back sometime to check on him,_ Frisk resolved, and with that, their thoughts wandered back to the present.

Walking down the mountain took a while, but that was fine. It gave Frisk some time to think over everything. _The rest of humanity is sure in for a surprise,_ they noted with a small smile, looking at the steady stream of monsters that began emerging from the mouth of the cave. _Perhaps they won't think of it as a_ _n entirely_ _pleasant one._ When they accepted Asgore's offer to become Ambassador, they hadn't really thought about it, but now they realized it would probably be very difficult to maintain a peaceful relationship. _Oh, well. We'll see how it goes._

For a moment, just a brief moment, Frisk was happy. Pure, simple bliss. They closed their eyes and let Toriel's hand guide them, merely listening to their footsteps and the sounds of nature around them. _I've truly been blessed. And to think I was scared of these monsters at first._ Their first attempt certainly hadn't been as pleasant for anyone involved. Frisk didn't like to think about that time. The fact of the matter was, they regretted their decisions and they found a way to undo them, and this time they did better. Most people didn't get second chances in life, but apparently Frisk wasn't most people. They took their chance when it was extended to them and made the most out of it.

Suddenly, Frisk paused when they noticed something, or more precisely, noticed that they weren't noticing anything. Not the sounds of nature, not the feeling of Toriel's warm, fuzzy hand, not the ground beneath their feet, not the slightly cold wind brushing their cheeks. _Nothing._ Frisk tried opening their eyes, only to find their eyelids had gotten so heavy all of a sudden. _What's going on? Did I fall asleep standing up?_ No, that was wrong. They weren't standing anymore. They were... floating...? No, lying down. Frisk focused hard on trying to feel something, anything. Then they noticed something soft pressing against their side. Finally, their eyes slowly fluttered open.

What they saw was that they were lying on a bed, in a barely decorated, rather small children's bedroom. _What...? Where am-_ Frisk's thoughts interrupted themselves. They already knew the answer to that question. _I'm back home._ _Back in my human home, before I went to Mount Ebott._ _But... How...?_ It took nearly half a minute for realization to finally dawn on them. _I'm back home, lying in my bed. Was... Was everything that happened just now..._ It couldn't be. That wasn't fair. That didn't make sense. _Was it all a dream...?_

No. That couldn't be true. Dreams were short, nonsensical romps through the unstable world of your own unconsciousness. Frisk remembered reading once that most dreams don't last longer than a few seconds; the longer ones were thirty minutes tops. This one had lasted hours, possibly even days. They weren't really keeping track of time, but it was certainly longer than dreams could possibly last for. _Besides, dream logic never makes sense. It's always random and constantly shifting. Sure, things had gotten a little... wacky at times, but at least it was_ _fairly_ _coherent._ But if it wasn't a dream, then what was it...? _Have I been in a coma or something?_ Before Frisk could consider it further, they were startled by a loud, energetic voice coming from somewhere close nearby.

"WH... WHERE AM I? IS THIS WHAT THE HUMAN WORLD IS LIKE? WOWIE, IT LOOKS JUST LIKE A BEDROOM! WELL, THAT SURE DOESN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE TO ME, BUT I BET THERE'S A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR IT."

 _Wait, what...? Who is- no, I'd recognize that voice anywhere by now._ Well, that put the final nail in the coffin for the dream theory. If Papyrus was here, then that meant everything really happened. _But why did I wake up here?_ Maybe they fell unconscious, and Toriel somehow found their old home without their help, and left them here because she thought that their real mom could handle this better than she herself could...? _Nah, she wouldn't do that._

"WAIT, WHY CAN'T I MOVE?! HAVE I BEEN CAPTURED? OH, NO! JUST WHEN I'VE STOPPED TRYING TO CAPTURE HUMANS, THEY CAPTURE ME INSTEAD!"

Papyrus was still rambling on, seemingly as confused as Frisk was. _Wait, he can't move? Where is he?_ Frisk focused on trying to pin down where Papyrus' voice was coming from.

"SANS! SANS, ARE YOU THERE?! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I SEEM TO BE STUCK! DID THE HUMANS CAPTURE US WHEN I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION?"

Papyrus' voice seemed to be... coming from nowhere in particular. He seemed to be close by, and yet, he obviously wasn't, or Frisk would be able to see him.

"huh... papyrus? hey, where are we?"

"AH, THERE YOU ARE! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT! WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU?"

"i seem to be lying in a bed of some sort. only i can't move."

"WHAT A COINCIDENCE! ME TOO!"

Wait, Sans is here too? And they're both lying in a bed somewhere nearby? But there are no other beds in the room-

Realization finally hit Frisk. _They're not just nearby._

"WAIT, WHY DO I HAVE HUMAN HANDS NOW? AND WHY AM I SO MUCH SHORTER? AND WHY..."

"bro... i think i figured out where we are. but i can't believe it."

 _They're in my head._

"OH NO, DID I BECOME A HUMAN WHEN I CROSSED INTO THE HUMAN WORLD? BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A SKELETON, WHAT WILL MY FUTURE FANS THINK?"

Without really knowing how, Frisk _thought_ aloud, speaking without making a physical noise, hoping the brothers could hear them that way.

 _Um. Hi._

"FRISK? IS THAT YOUR VOICE? ARE YOU CAPTURED TOO?!"

 _No, I... We're not captured. We're at home, my home. I, uhm, somehow... seem to be sharing my mind with you._

Sans let out a noise that could be a heavy sigh. "that's just great. i'm guessing you don't know how that happened?"

 _Nope._

"welp. it was worth asking. figured i'd... _pick your brain._ "

"SANS, AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!"

"what? i didn't think you'd _mind_ some humor."

"SANS."

Frisk suppressed a sigh. _Oh boy, having these two in my head is going to take some getting used to._

"it sure will."

Frisk audibly yelped. _Whoops, guess I was still thinking "aloud", wasn't I? Sorry about that._

"it's fine. it's your mind, after all. i'd hate to... _brainpose._ "

"I THINK THAT PUN WAS YOUR WORST ONE YET. IT BARELY EVEN MAKES SENSE."

"aww, come on, bro. i still don't know what happened to get us here, but at least we're all still alive and well. i think that alone calls for a... _cerebraltion_."

At this point, Frisk couldn't hear their own thoughts over Papyrus' screaming.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thus begins my first foray into the uncharted world of fanfiction. Do let me know what you think. I'm hoping this will be a learning experience. So far, I've already learned one thing for sure: I'm the worst at puns.


	2. Getting Up

_All right, calm down, Papyrus. That's enough._

Frisk had spent the last couple minutes getting dressed. Only halfway through did they suddenly become aware of the fact that they were now being watched at all times, after which they became very embarrassed and self-conscious. Not that it mattered much; Papyrus was too preoccupied with ranting at his brother, while Sans was trying his best to ignore him. Now that they were fully clothed, it was about time they assessed the situation and tried to piece together what happened.

"BUT- AAGH, FINE. IT'S NOT LIKE HE'LL LISTEN ANYWAY."

"hey, that's not true, bro. i always do what i'm told."

"TO THE LETTER, YES. AND NOT A STEP BEYOND."

 _I hate to interrupt this moment you're having, but we really should consider why you're in my head right now._

"true enough. but now that i think about it, where is everyone else, anyway? why is it just us?"

"TH-THAT'S RIGHT! WE'RE A FEW HEADS SHORT! IN FACT, WE'RE ALL OF MONSTERKIND MINUS TWO VERY COOL SKELETONS SHORT! WHERE DID EVERYBODY ELSE GO?" Papyrus let out a startled gasp. "OH, NO! WHAT IF WHATEVER HAPPENED TO US HAPPENED TO THEM AS WELL, AND THEY GOT LOST ALONG THE WAY AND ACCIDENTALLY STEPPED INTO SOME OTHER HUMAN'S MIND INSTEAD?! WE HAVE TO GO FIND THEM!"

 _Papyrus, please. We can't just go running around asking people that._

"'sides, i don't think that's even possible, let alone that we're the only two who somehow didn't 'get lost'," Sans added.

"WELL, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? ARE YOU AN EXPERT ON INVOLUNTARILY ENTERING HUMAN MINDS?" Papyrus countered.

"well, no, but-"

"NO BUTS! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, SO THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE BY NOW! WE HAVE TO GO FIND THEM BEFORE THEY GET THEMSELVES INTO TROUBLE!"

 _Okay, that's enough._

Frisk was getting tired of Papyrus' panicking by now and finally decided to put their foot down. While it was true that they had no idea where everyone else was right now, Frisk somehow doubted they'd just end up in other people's minds. _Now, before we go running around like a headless chicken, how about we relax and let me get used to this whole "having two skeletons talking in my head" business? We can go over what we do know while we're at it._

"seems like as good an idea as any."

 _First question: what's the last thing the both of you remember happening before... well, this happened?_

"I WAS RUNNING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN TO GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION TO THE HUMANS! I ALMOST MADE IT, TOO. BUT THEN... THEN."

Papyrus seemed to pause, confused by what his own memory was telling him. "THEN I WOKE UP HERE. NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED IN BETWEEN."

"as for me, i was trying to track down where papyrus went. couldn't find him for a bit. and then, poof, i'm your imaginary buddy all of a sudden."

 _Well, that doesn't help us at all._ Frisk sighed dejectedly. _I'm not sure what's next. Maybe we should just go do something else while I think of something._

"YOU SAID THIS WAS YOUR HOME, RIGHT? WHY DON'T YOU SHOW US AROUND? AFTER ALL, I GAVE YOU THE SAME COURTESY BACK WHEN WE FIRST MET."

 _Yeah, I guess that's fair. But there's not a whole lot to see around here._

Frisk walked out of their room and into the living room annex kitchen that made up most of the small apartment. Frisk walked over to the counter, which had a note on it. "Frisk, dear, I'm gone for work as usual. Don't get-"

Frisk already stopped reading; they knew the rest. It was the same every time. Don't get into trouble, there's leftovers in the fridge, mommy loves you very much, kisses. Right. Well, at least that gave them some alone time to get their act together.

"she's away from home a lot, isn't she."

Frisk flinched from the sudden assertion. _How'd you know that?_

There was a split second of silence; Frisk imagined Sans was trying to shrug, only to find he couldn't. "just a hunch."

 _Well... Yeah, she is. She needs to hold down several jobs to keep us fed. Which means I need to look after myself most of the time. I don't blame her, I know she can't help it either. But still. It gets so lonely in here._

"what about your dad?"

A pregnant pause. _He... left when I was only just born. And he never came back._

Sans let out a whistle. Or a sound similar to a whistle, anyway. "i see. no other relatives to look after you, then?"

 _My grandma looked after me for a while, but she passed away last year. I'm old enough now to take care of myself, but..._ A wave of sadness came over Frisk, and they had to resist the impulse to let out a sob. Almost on command, Papyrus piped up.

"AWW, DON'T WORRY, FRISK! ME AND MY BROTHER ARE HERE TO KEEP YOU COMPANY NOW! AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM THE GREATEST AT CHEERING PEOPLE UP! WITH SANS AS A DISTANT SECOND BEST," he added.

That made Frisk feel a lot better, because it was true as far as they were concerned. They glanced over the kitchen to see if there's anything else noteworthy.

"OOH, A STOVE! I CAN HELP YOU MAKE SOME OF MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

 _Uhhh, sure thing, Papyrus..._ To be honest, it didn't seem like a very good idea to Frisk, especially since they didn't have any knowledge about cooking themselves. Well, besides what Undyne had taught them... And her advice didn't really produce any edible results. But they didn't want to insult Papyrus' cooking to his face- metaphorically speaking- so they went along with the idea for now and hoped he would forget. Sans seemed to agree with that sentiment.

Moving into the living room section, they noticed the desk where they would usually do homework. _Wait, I just thought of something._

They rummaged through the desk drawer, eventually pulling out a thick book and opening it. Sans and Papyrus could guess from the amount of maps that it was an atlas, but they weren't sure what Frisk was trying to find. Several minutes went by, with only the sound of the pages flipping to fill the silence. Eventually Sans couldn't ignore his curiosity any longer. "what exactly are you looking for, kiddo?"

Frisk didn't immediately answer. After another minute or two of scanning the pages, they finally closed the book with a sigh. _It's not here._

"what?"

 _Mount Ebott. It doesn't exist._

"huh? what do you mean, of course it-"

 _No, it doesn't. I just checked all the maps that show where mountains are located. There's none by that name._

"BUT... MOUNT EBOTT IS THE MOUNTAIN WE WERE ALL TRAPPED UNDERNEATH! HOW CAN IT NOT EXIST?!"

 _Because it doesn't._ Frisk sighed, frustrated with their lack of comprehension. _I should've guessed. When As- ...someone asked me why I ever climbed that mountain anyway, I couldn't answer. Because I don't even remember climbing the mountain in the first place. I just woke up in a bed of flowers._ Frisk hoped they didn't pick up on their little slip-up. They certainly weren't in the mood to explain that story right now.

"HOW'D YOU END UP THERE?"

 _How should I know?!_ Frisk was getting annoyed with Papyrus' constant questions, as if he expected them to have all the answers. _It couldn't have been a dream, or else you two wouldn't be here right now. I guess I somehow ended up in an entirely different world in my sleep, and now I've travelled back... Only I took you with me. If that makes any sense._ It really didn't, but it was the best explanation they could come up with for now.

"SO... WE'RE STUCK IN YOUR WORLD NOW? FOREVER?!" Papyrus seemed genuinely upset now. Frisk had never encountered him like this; usually his dauntless cheer overrode any form of negativity. Now, though, he seemed like a child that just had their favorite toy taken away from them. "BUT I DON'T WANT TO! I WANT TO GO BACK HOME! I MISS MY OTHER FRIENDS!" All of a sudden, Frisk felt all the sorrow Papyrus was going through, along with an intense urge to cheer him up. Sans seemed to have a similar sentiment.

"hey, c'mon, bro. we don't know that yet. maybe this was all just a simple mistake, and we'll be back home before we know it."

 _Yeah, that's right. Plus, you've still got me and Sans, right?_

Papyrus didn't seem entirely convinced, but after a brief moment of introspection, he seemed to pull himself together. "ALL RIGHT. I'LL BE OKAY. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. AS LONG AS WE ALL WORK HARD AT FINDING A SOLUTION, WE CAN'T FAIL!"

 _That's the spirit._

Sans made a sound of agreement, and so they went back to the present. Frisk paused to wonder what to do next, then got an idea. _Hey, you both said you couldn't move earlier. Are you sure?_

"pretty much."

"HOLD ON, LET ME TRY AGAIN!"

Several seconds went by as Papyrus seemed to focus all his effort in trying to move without Frisk's assistance. Despite the various funny sounds Papyrus made, nothing really happened; Frisk's right hand twitched once, but Frisk suspected they were just subconsciously trying to help the struggling skeleton. Eventually Papyrus finally yielded, panting with the exertion. _Sorry, Papyrus. Guess you'll have to depend on me to move around for now._

"IF YOU THINK... I'LL GIVE UP THAT EASILY...! UNDYNE DIDN'T SPEND... ALL THOSE HOURS TRAINING ME FOR..."

"alright bro, that's enough, i think. take it from me; sometimes you just gotta 'lax, you know?"

"DON'T YOU DARE INFECT ME WITH YOUR SLOTH! I'M JUST... NOT USED TO BEING IN A HUMAN'S MIND AND BODY. YEAH, THAT MUST BE IT. LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN LATER."

"sure, whatever you say."

 _Well, guess that answers that._ Frisk was about to move on to a different topic, but a sudden, deafeningly loud yell made them jump, nearly causing them to slip on the tile floor.

"NGAAAAAHHH! Papyrus! What did I tell you about giving up so soon?! You only gave it one hundred percent! What happened to the last ten?!"

* * *

 **A/N:** That'll do for the second chapter. Thank you all for reading, for reviewing, and for any other form of support so far. It certainly was about as good a response as I could've hoped for, so I'm going to keep writing and hope I don't disappoint. We'll see how far this goes.


	3. Stretching The Legs

Frisk looked around a bit to see where the voice was coming from before realizing that, no, of course there was nobody else in the room. Undyne was right there with them, talking directly into their brain.

"U-UNDYNE?!"

"Don't "Undyne" me, mister! What was that about just now? I know you can do better than that! I thought I instructed you not to hold back, ever!"

"BUT-"

"Unbelievable. I let you out of my sight for..."

Undyne's voice finally stopped ranting. "For... Wait. How long has it been...? Where am I, for that matter?! What's going on? Why can't I move?"

 _Uhh... Hi, Undyne._

"Frisk? That you, punk? Do you know what's going on? So help me, if you're the one behind this..."

 _No, no, it's uh... It's a long story. One that we're still trying to piece together. What's the last thing you remember?_

"I was running after Papyrus. He's gotten a lot faster, I'll give him that. I had almost caught up to him and was about to tell him to slow down. Uhhh... The next part's a bit fuzzy. Then I woke up here, where the first thing I heard was a certain _someone_ slacking off!"

Papyrus whimpered a bit at the obvious reprimand. "B-BUT I..."

Undyne paid no attention to Papyrus' stammering. "Now, mind filling me in on what happened?"

 _You mean you don't know yet?_ It seemed like a redundant question, but Frisk needed to make sure.

"No, why else would I be asking?"

Frisk looked at the clock. They hadn't exactly checked the time when they woke up, but it must've been at least an hour. _Papyrus and Sans showed up almost immediately, but you apparently just got here._ _So that means..._

"...there might be more coming, they're just taking their sweet time to show up. is that what you're getting at?" Sans had apparently reached the same conclusion. Maybe the others were closer by than they all thought.

"Hello?! Is anyone going to answer the question?"

 _All right, okay. So here's what we've understood so far._

* * *

 _...So we decided to test if Papyrus or Sans could move on their own. And that's when you showed up._ It took a few minutes to bring Undyne up to date, but at least now they were all on the same level.

"Ah. So... you can't? You sure? Really sure?"

"I TRIED MY VERY BEST, HONEST! BUT IT SEEMS WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT FRISK'S HELP..." Papyrus was desperate to regain Undyne's approval, but she was having none of it.

"Your best? Hah! You just weren't trying hard enough. Lemme have a go at it!"

Frisk sighed, but stood up so Undyne could give it a try anyway. _I really don't think that's going to-_

And to everyone except Undyne's complete bafflement, Frisk's right foot sharply lifted itself up and planted itself on the floor before their left. The movement was jerky and stiff and it was more of a forceful stomp than a normal step, but Frisk's leg had definitely moved on it's own. Well, maybe not exactly on it's own.

"Fuhuhuhu! What did I tell you?!" Undyne was on a roll now. Frisk's left foot moved up next, and then their right, left, right, left, right, until they had made their way over to the opposite wall.

"There... You nerds are just... too quick to give up..." Undyne was out of breath; apparently the exercise had worn her out. Not that she was acknowledging it. Frisk's body leaned back against the wall and slowly slumped to the floor.

The other three were at a loss for words. The thought that others could "operate" their body was both exciting and a little creepy to Frisk. At least it meant progress. _...Huh. Wait a minute. Undyne, can you try that again?_

"Why? Not convinced yet?"

 _No, I just wanted to experiment._

"'Experiment'... You sound like Alphys when she gets all analytical." Undyne paused for a bit, then hastily amended her statement, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

Undyne willed Frisk's body to stand up with a groan while Frisk confirmed their suspicion. Whenever Undyne took control, their left eye automatically winked shut and wouldn't open again. _Hey Undyne, try opening your other eye._

"Is that some sick joke, punk? You know I don't have-"

Realization finally hit Undyne. She tried to force the eye to open, but it wouldn't work. "It's not opening. Seems like going without a left eye for so long and then suddenly "borrowing" one back impairs your ability to use it."

 _Well, it doesn't really matter. I just hope nobody else notices that. It's gotta look weird on me._

 _"_ Hah! With your squinty little eyes, I doubt anyone can even tell."

 _Okay, one more test._ Frisk tried taking control back from Undyne without her cooperation. Almost immediately their left eye snapped open again.

"Hey, what's the big idea, punk? You can just ask next time!"

 _Sorry, I had to know if I could. Did that hurt or anything?_

"Not really, it's just a bit of a jolt. Having control taken away from you without warning just isn't pleasant."

 _No, I can imagine. On that note, please consult with me before you start marching about with my body, okay?_

"Sounds fair... Hey, Papyrus? You all right there?"

Frisk hadn't really been paying attention to the skeleton brothers for the past minute or so, but now they noticed that Papyrus seemed rather down in the dumps.

"I GUESS THAT'S WHY I NEVER MADE IT INTO THE ROYAL GUARD, ISN'T IT? I GIVE IN TOO EASILY. UNDYNE MOVED WITH SO MUCH EASE, AND I COULDN'T EVEN LIFT A FINGER!"

"Hey, come on, now. I'll admit, it took quite a bit of effort for me, too. Human bodies are so... weird and heavy. Bet most can't even jump their own height."

 _Papyrus, why don't you just try again? If Undyne can do it, you can too!_

"Yeah, that's right! Come on, I know you! You're tougher than you think! Give it another go, you pansy! I believe in you!"

"A-ALL RIGHT. HERE I GO."

Frisk waited patiently as Papyrus tried to move with all his might. Nothing at all happened at first. Frisk got a little worried, and briefly contemplated helping Papyrus to cheer him up. But they didn't want to patronize him, so they just waited. And then, ever so slowly, Frisk's left arm slowly lifted up and their fingers configured themselves into a weak thumbs-up.

"I... I DID IT! I MOVED! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"YEAH! Whoo! Go Papyrus!"

Frisk felt their own mouth form into a wide, toothy grin. It would probably look weird to an outside observer; normally their expression was largely unreadable, but now they seemed almost cartoonishly happy. They briefly contemplated walking over to the bathroom to check in the mirror how it looked, but they'd rather not interrupt Papyrus' happy little moment.

"SANS! HEY, SANS! LOOK, I DID IT!"

"-nnnh? huh, what's up, papyrus?"

"OH MY GOD, DON'T TELL ME YOU SLEPT THROUGH ALL THAT."

"nah, i was awake. my eye sockets were wide open the whole time, see?"

"Sans, you lazy bum, nobody can see your eye sockets right now!"

"i know, isn't it great?"

While Papyrus and Undyne were busy ranting about Sans' incorrigible napping habits, Frisk went on ahead and asked their next question. _So can you move too, Sans?_

"doubt it. sounded like a whole lot of effort."

 _You can at least try._

All of two seconds went by as Sans "tried" moving. "nnnngh. nope, seems like i'm not strong enough."

"OHHH, HAVING TO BE HAULED AROUND EVERYWHERE WITHOUT ANY EFFORT ON YOUR PART WORKS OUT JUST FINE FOR YOU, DOESN'T IT?"

"heh, i guess it does. lucky me, right?

"Sans, I swear, one of these days I'll show you what the royal guard does with slackers."

"the royal guard was gonna be disbanded, remember?"

"NGAAAAAHHH! You're trying my patience!"

 _Guys, stop arguing so much, it's disorienting for me._ Hearing all these voices bouncing around their head made Frisk a little dizzy. They sat down on the couch, closing their eyes for a moment. _Well, to review: We're back in my world now, you three only exist as voices in my head, you can move me around but it takes a lot of effort, and maybe there'll be others coming. I think that about covers it._

"actually, i noticed something else."

Everyone was quite surprised to hear Sans speaking up. "hey papyrus, i just remembered i forgot to feed rockie before we left."

"WHAT?!" Papyrus was furious. "HOW OFTEN DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER YOUR OWN PET LIKE A RESPONSIBLE ADULT?! NOW THAT WE'RE GONE, THE POOR THING HAS TO LIVE OFF OF AN EMPTY STOMACH FOR WHO-KNOWS-HOW-LONG! DON'T YOU FEEL THE LEAST BIT ASHAMED?!"

Sans completely ignored Papyrus' tirade. "there it is. feel that? that anger?"

"HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Frisk didn't get what Sans was talking about at first, but then they felt a subdued amount of outrage directed at... something. W _hy am I so mad?_

"you feel it too, don't you? i think it's coming from papyrus."

"YOU'RE JUST GONNA IGNORE ME, AREN'T Y- WAIT, WHAT'S COMING FROM WHO?"

Frisk thought about it for longer. Earlier that day, they had shared Papyrus' sorrow... And now that they really paid attention to it, they felt exhausted, like they'd just worn themselves out. But why...? _Wait, Undyne, moving around took a lot of effort, didn't it?_

"What? Pffft, I can keep that up all day!" Undyne's boasting convinced no one, especially since she'd already confessed to the contrary earlier.

 _Undyne, please be honest._

"...All right, yeah, I guess that was pretty tiring."

 _I know. I can feel it myself._

"now you're getting it. it seems that, because we're sharing a mind and body now, we can sense and share each other's emotions and feelings to a certain degree." Sans sounded... worried. And Frisk felt that same worry.

 _Huh._ This was getting more complicated by the minute. It was all a lot to take in. Frisk exhaled loudly. _I don't know if I can live like this forever. We gotta start thinking of a way to fix this._

"well, first we gotta know what exactly is going on. we know what happened, only we don't know how or why."

"Alphys is good at figuring this stuff out. Only she isn't here."

 _Well, maybe she'll show up later. Guess we'll just have to wait and see._ Frisk blew out another breath. Phew, the day had barely started and already they felt completely tuckered out. _Well, better go get breakfast for now._ They checked the clock. _Or lunch._

"Sounds good to me. I could use some energy replenishment."

"OOOH, I KNOW WHAT WE COULD EAT!"

 _Oh, please no._ Frisk couldn't exactly stop their thoughts from getting out, and immediately felt a pang of disappointment from Papyrus. _Sorry, but uh, no pasta for lunch, okay?_

"how about we just go out to eat?"

 _We don't exactly have the money for that._

"oh. bummer."

 _I think I'll just make a sandwich or something._

"A sandwich? Pffft, that's not gonna fill you up! You need something warm to get you going!"

It took roughly fifteen minutes before they finally agreed on fried eggs. Papyrus had complained a bit about grease, but given the lack of options he reluctantly accepted it. Having to reach an agreement on their personal choice of food was another matter in the growing list of things Frisk would have to get used to.

"so basically, right now we're just waiting for alphys to show up, huh?"

 _Pretty much._

"well then, i hope that _egg_ head doesn't waste too much time getting here."

Two groans sounded while Frisk just rolled their eyes.

"Oh no, I'm going to have to deal with this all the time from now on, aren't I?"

"IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS, BUT YOU GET USED TO IT."

"it's as they always say; two in distress make sorrow l _eggs."_

* * *

 **A/N:** I am so sorry for that last pun.


	4. Quelling Fears

After lunch, Frisk badly needed to visit the toilet. They were briefly too embarrassed to do so, painfully aware of the three monsters watching them at all times, but eventually they figured they'd have to do this eventually, so there was no point in stalling. Papyrus went on a long string of questions regarding human bathroom etiquette at first, but sensing Frisk's strong unease (along with a curt "Shut up" from Undyne) he decided to give it a rest. Frisk did their business in silence after that. Only once they were fully clothed and outside did anyone have the nerve to speak up.

"Eugh. This is what digestion is like? That's disgusting," Undyne complained.

"SO THIS IS WHAT EXCUSING YOURSELF TO THE BATHROOM REALLY MEANS?! IF I'D KNOWN THAT, I'D HAVE CHOSEN MY WORDS MORE CAREFULLY!"

 _Look, it's something I have to do, okay? I can't help it either. And get used to it, because this happens several times a day._

"Yech. I hope we can figure this out soon, I don't think I can deal with that for long."

* * *

They spent the rest of the afternoon idling about in the living room. Undyne had asked to practice walking again a couple times; each time went a little smoother, but according to her it was still very slow and tiring. "It's like wearing a heavy suit of armor at all times. Good thing that's how I normally practice anyway! Fuhuhuhu!"

By the evening, while they were eating microwaved leftovers, Alphys finally popped up. After explaining the situation to her, she immediately got to brainstorming ("I-I'll see what I can figure out, but no promises."). Frisk's mind filled up with thoughts and concepts they couldn't hope to understand about magic and physics and reality and mathematics and all sorts of other sciences they didn't even recognize. It briefly disoriented them until they settled for ignoring the foreign thoughts as background noise and focusing on their plate instead.

Eventually Alphys gave it a rest for the moment, which was fine with Frisk; they could use some time out. They spent the evening lazily channel surfing on TV. Finally, late in the evening, the front door opened and their mom wearily stepped into the apartment. "Hello dear, how was today?"

"GREETINGS, FRISK'S MOTHER! NICE TO MEET YOU!"

Frisk briefly panicked, thinking their mom could hear Papyrus. Only several seconds later did they realize that, no, of course she couldn't.

"Frisk? Hello?"

Frisk shook off their thoughts and finally addressed their mother. "Oh, uh, hi mom."

Mom smiled at them, a curious look in her eyes. "What's on your mind?"

 _Oh, you'd never believe that even if I told you._ Sans chuckled a bit at that quip. "Nothing, mom, just tired I guess."

"If you say so, honey." She looked at the TV, then back at Frisk. "Don't tell me you've only been doing this all day."

Frisk shrugged; they'd like to say no, but that would involve explaining what they **had** been doing.

Mom sighed. "I spend all week working to keep your lazy butt healthy and fed while you waste your time hanging out in front of that thing? You're a smart kid, you know what comes of that, right?" Frisk felt a little bit guilty for lying to their mom, but said nothing.

"HEY FRISK, CAN I TALK TO YOUR MOM? I'D LIKE TO SAY HI!"

 _Papyrus, no, we can't let her know you guys are here._

"WHAT? WHY NOT?"

 _Because I don't think she'd be okay with having you around. If she'd even believe you exist._

"OF COURSE I EXIST! HOW COULD ANYBODY DENY THAT?! FOR THAT MATTER, WHO WOULDN'T BE OKAY WITH HAVING SUCH A COOL AND FRIENDLY SKELETON AROUND?"

"bro, give it a rest. i don't think that's a good idea either."

"BUT WHY NOT?"

"Frisk? Are you all right?" Mom's voice brought Frisk back to the outside world with a start.

"Huh? What?"

Mom gave them a worried look. "That's the second time you spaced out on me already. I haven't even been in for five minutes." She looked at the clock. "Are you sure you're just tired? You're not getting sick, are you?"

Frisk groggily rubbed their eyes. "No, I'm really just sleepy. I think I'm gonna go to bed now."

"All right, dear. Good night."

"'Night, mom."

"GOOD NIGHT, FRISK'S MOM!"

 _Papyrus, please keep quiet next time, okay?_

"BUT-" Papyrus sighed, defeated. "OKAY."

* * *

Frisk found themselves in a dark hallway. It was hard to see due to the lack of reliable light sources or windows and the air was musty and stale, making it hard to breathe. Obviously this place hadn't been cleaned very often. But Frisk had other things to worry about, like the slow, soppy, squelching noise somewhere nearby, the whispers that seemed to come from all over the walls, the dread-filled feeling that something horrible was nearby.

Panic quickly overtook Frisk. They ran to a nearby door and flung it open, only to find another hallway behind it, with more doorways. There were stairs going up, stairs going down, but no exit anywhere. And the sounds and whispers only got louder no matter what direction Frisk took. They reached for another door, only for it to burst open before them. Frisk staggered back as a deformed, gangly creature that shouldn't exist lumbered out, dripping with some white-gray fluid, it's single, giant eye staring directly at Frisk, it's wings(...?) flapping erratically. No matter how much Frisk backed away, the thing always seemed to get closer. They cried out for help, but nobody came.

And then, as if it could get any worse, the thing opened it's beaked(...?) mouth and let out an uncontrollable flood of words, except they weren't really words, they were a maelstrom of random syllables, rapidly changing in pitch and overlapping each other constantly. Frisk closed their eyes and collapsed into a ball, covering their ears, but the thing's voice(s) grew louder still. After a while, Frisk could distinguish the owners of the voices. Papyrus, Alphys, Undyne, Sans. Frisk cried out for them to stop, for silence, for quiet, but no one heard them.

"frisk! hey, kid, wake up!"

Frisk gasped and sat up. Suddenly everything was quiet and they were back in their room. It took a few seconds of rapid breathing for them to get a hold of themselves.

 _...Sorry. I had a-_

"a nightmare, yeah. we experienced it too."

 _What, really? The same one?_

"i think so. take a listen."

Frisk didn't get what Sans wanted them to listen to at first, but now that they were paying attention, they heard a small sobbing noise, plus soothing, hushing sounds from a different voice. After a few seconds, they realized Alphys was crying, with Undyne trying to calm them down. Papyrus, meanwhile, had entirely withdrawn into himself and was completely unresponsive.

"I-I-I... F-Frisk, I... I-I'm s-s-so sorry I m-made you s-see that... I d-didn't know it w-would give you nnnnightmares... I, I should've..." Alphys blubbered.

"Sssssh. It's all right. It wasn't your fault. They're all with their families now, we made sure they were happy again. It's over." Undyne was trying her best to calm Alphys down, but it was obvious she, too, was shaken by the nightmare.

"Frisk? Are you okay?"

Frisk looked up to see their mom standing in the doorway. "Did you have a bad dream?"

Frisk just nodded, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Frisk, I'm worried. If something's wrong, you can tell me, whatever it is. Okay?"

"No, I... Nothing's wrong. It was just a nightmare, that's all."

Mom cast them a skeptical look. "Well, if you're sure. But if there is something after all, and you want to talk about it, then I'm always there."

Frisk hummed to convey they understood. Unfortunately, they couldn't take mom up on her offer even if they wanted to.

"Do you think you'll be able to go back to sleep?"

Frisk hmm-hmm'ed again.

"Okay. Good night."

"'Night."

The door closed, casting the room in darkness again.

"hey, frisk, i think we should talk about this dream of yours." Alphys had stopped crying by this point, so Sans was apparently confident enough to press the matter further. "i think you're afraid you'll turn out like that... thing. am i wrong?"

Frisk couldn't directly say yes or no. It was possible they were subconsciously scared that hearing voices all the time would drive them insane.

 _I... It's just... Well, the thought that more and more monsters are going to start talking in my head... There were thousands of monsters in the Underground. What if they just keep coming? I'll go completely mad._

Sans hummed appraisingly. "that's a very realistic fear to have. there's so many unknowns." Sans hesitated for a moment before continuing to speak. "alphys, you feeling better? think you can shine some light on the situation?"

"W-well..." Alphys' voice was still shaky, but then again, she never really seemed confident speaking. "I've been thinking about what exactly is going on. The most likely scenario I can think of is that when Frisk went back to their world, they took the souls of a bunch of monsters along with them."

"how much is a bunch?"

"No idea. Maybe just us. Maybe a dozen. Maybe even all of them."

 _Wait, really? So I have thousands of monster souls inside of me now?_

"Y-yes, well, no, we don't know, really. We've got no baseline to compare it to. We already knew that it was possible for humans to absorb monster souls, but we have never seen it happen before due to the lack of longevity in monster souls after death. There's no telling what happens to the monster souls, o-or even how many souls you currently have in you."

 _You seem quite confident in this soul theory._

"It's the only thing that makes any sense. It would also explain why we have such difficulty moving by ourselves; monster souls are much weaker than human souls, a-and therefore performing the same actions takes much greater mental strain. A human body is attuned to a human soul, so it's simply too much for us to handle."

 _But what if I really did take all those thousands of monster souls with me? My brain can't handle that much activity going on!_

"Good point." Alphys hesitated a bit before continuing with a wry tone of voice. "I never thought I'd say this, but the whole fiasco with the amalgamates now gives us some useful information. Thankfully, there seems to be a limit to the amount of souls that can be a-"active" inside a single being at any one time. That's why they clustered together in a number of entities, rather than one big clump. After a while, even their molten, sticky forms couldn't fuse any further."

Alphys paused again; now there was a melancholy note to her voice. "Miss Drake got the worst of it. She was merged with no less than sixteen vegetoids. Since vegetoid souls are comparatively weaker, she could more or less take "leadership". Unfortunately, their combined soul power wasn't enough to fully "nourish" their great body mass, a-and so they were left with a fleeting consciousness and unstable body. Even more so than the others."

"that's tragic and all, but how does that help us?" Sans was apparently getting impatient with the whole spiel, wanting to get to the point.

"W-well, Frisk only took the souls of monsters with them, not their bodies. Since their soul is so much stronger than ours, I believe it can more or less control what goes on in their brain. Not consciously so, of course, but I think it will automatically establish a limit to the amount of conscious beings. The rest of them will simply remain "dormant" until there's enough room for them to awaken. That's also why we showed up first rather than some random froggit; Frisk's soul is prioritizing the colleagues it knows and trusts."

 _Well, if that's the case, then that's reassuring, I suppose._

"rather. ready to try sleeping again?"

 _All right. Good night, everyone._

There was a chorus of mumbled responses, and then everything went quiet as Frisk entered a relatively dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whew, that was a lot of exposition. Hopefully now that I got that out of the way, I can move on to some more interesting situations.


	5. Learning Experiences

"HEEEEEY! WAKE UP, YOU LAZYBONES!"

Frisk's eyes slowly fluttered open to the sound of Papyrus' yelling. "AH, FINALLY YOU'RE AWAKE!"

Checking the clock, Frisk concluded that it was about 9 AM. True, it was as good a time as any to get up, but was it really any of Papyrus' business if they slept in? It was a Sunday, after all; they didn't have anything better to do.

 _Uuugh. And good morning to you too. What was that all about?_ they asked groggily.

"DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT! I'VE BEEN PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THREE HOURS FOR YOU TO WAKE UP ON YOUR OWN! YOU'LL GIVE SANS A RUN FOR HIS MONEY!"

Speaking of Sans, judging from the soft snoring, he was still soundly asleep. And from the chainsaw-like noises, so were Undyne and Alphys. Frisk was about to tell Papyrus off for needlessly disrupting their lifestyle, before remembering that he could barely move without their help. Of course he'd be terminally bored by now.

Frisk got up with a sigh. _Well, guess I'd better get dressed, then._

* * *

By the time Frisk got their clothes on and walked into the living room, the others had woken up from the movement (although Sans was still half asleep, much to Papyrus' chagrin). Apparently Undyne and Alphys really weren't morning people. Frisk had suspected as much with Alphys, but Undyne's sulking came as a surprise, given her usual energy. Frisk figured it would blow over soon enough.

Frisk always looked forward to Sunday, since it was the only day of the week when mom didn't have to work, which meant they finally got to spend some time with her. But brunch first, of course.

After Frisk had their fill of boiled eggs and par-baked bread, mom laid out their plan for the rest of the morning, which earned a groan from Frisk. "Clothes shopping? Ugh. Do we have to?"

"You can't keep walking around in that striped shirt forever, dear," mom countered.

 _What's wrong with this shirt? I haven't been wearing it for that long, have I?_

"IT DOES LOOK GOOD ON YOU, BUT... YOU'VE WORN THAT FOR AS LONG AS I'VE KNOWN YOU!"

 _But we've only known each other for a few days, Papyrus._ Frisk decided not to comment on the hypocrisy of Papyrus' assertion.

"REALLY? IT FEELS LIKE SO MUCH LONGER!"

"that it does, bro. that it does."

Frisk suppressed a shudder upon noticing the knowing, bitter undercurrent in Sans' voice. It was subtle, but unmistakable and impossible to ignore once Frisk identified it. Sans remembered Frisk's first time in the Underground. Not everything, of course, but enough. At least he seemed willing to give them another chance. Frisk decided that it would be for the best if they talked about this once they get some alone time. If they get some alone time.

Mom apparently took Frisk's continued silence for resignation. "Well, put on your coat when you're ready to go. We'll leave in a bit."

During the car drive to the store, Frisk let Papyrus practice moving their hands while they played a game of "I spy" with Undyne, Alphys and Sans. Admittedly, Undyne was bored with it rather quickly and Sans was making deliberately bad guesses in a sorry attempt to get a rise out of Frisk. Still, it helped pass the time. Eventually the car stopped in front of a thrift shop.

"This is where you buy clothes? Looks rather dumpy," Undyne was quick to point out.

 _Yeah, we can't really afford to buy the latest fashion. It's not as bad as it seems._

As they walked into the store, mom turned to Frisk. "You know what? How about you choose your own clothes for once while I look for my own."

"What? But I don't know which clothes are any good!" Frisk didn't like being put on the spot like this. They feared that any clothes they chose would cause them to get ridiculed at school.

"That's exactly why I'm asking you. You'll need to learn this sooner or later, I can't keep finding clothes for you." Mom sighed. "Look, I'll help you if you really can't figure it out, but at least try, all right?"

"A-All right..." Frisk wasn't exactly confident, but they figured mom was right, as mothers typically are.

"Try and find a coat, pants and a shirt or something like that. Something that'll keep you warm for the winter season. Meet me back here in a few minutes, all right?" Frisk nodded, and with that mom left them to their own devices.

 _Well, that's just great._

"Lemme guess; you don't have the slightest clue about this." Undyne could read Frisk's mind, but she really didn't have to in order to figure out the problem.

 _Nope. Any of you guys got any suggestions?_

"Well sheesh, not in a dump like this. I mean, I'm used to digging through heaps of garbage for anything useful, but come on!"

"S-Sorry, no idea. I usually just wear a lab coat, heheh," Alphys added.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES? YOU CAN MAKE SOMETHING THAT REALLY MAKES YOU... WELL, YOU! OOH, MAYBE YOU COULD EVEN HAVE YOUR OWN BATTLE BODY, LIKE ME!"

 _I don't think I'll need a "battle body", Papyrus. Besides, I'm just as bad at sewing._

"...WHAT IF I HELP YOU?"

Frisk sighed. _Well, Sans, you're my last hope. Any ideas?_

"weeeeeell..." Sans had a mischievous tone in his voice that Papyrus definitely didn't like.

"OH NO, DON'T TELL ME..."

* * *

"Huh, not bad, Frisk." Mom checked the price tags on the clothing while simultaneously appraising Frisk's choices. Well, not really their choices, exactly. As Papyrus feared, Sans had immediately reached for a thick, blue coat with a fluffy collar- and most importantly, deep pockets for Frisk to stuff their hands in. It wasn't exactly the same as the coat Sans was normally never seen without, but it was a close match. After that, a white shirt to go under it was a natural choice. Sans was about to go for a pair of track pants, but luckily Undyne decided to save them from a public embarrassment and suggested jeans instead.

All in all, the end result was comfortable, affordable and not too bad. Or at least, so Frisk hoped. It was probably the best they could manage with hand-me-down clothes, anyway. Sans was definitely pleased with himself... And Papyrus definitely wasn't, having preferred an outfit that exuded a little more energy and motivation. But Papyrus didn't know what winter is like to people who have skin to feel the cold with, so in the end his complaints were ignored.

After the clothes were paid for, they stopped by a shoe store, which led to a three-way argument between Undyne, Papyrus and Sans about which footwear was better (more precisely, Papyrus and Undyne were arguing about different types of boots while Sans went on and on about how comfortable slippers were). After settling for a pair of simple sneakers, they headed back home.

As soon as they were back, mom got to work on making dinner, much to Frisk's delight. They could use some fresh food for once. Out of curiosity, they asked what's for dinner.

"Spaghetti," mom replied.

 _Oh no, did she just say-_

Before Frisk could even fully register what happened, let alone respond to it, Papyrus had taken control and used their mouth to speak out loud. "Can I help?!"

Mom looked to her side to see her child grinning up at her. Well, this came as a surprise. Frisk had never expressed interest in learning how to cook before, much less with so much enthusiasm. And what was with their voice? It was definitely... screechier than usual. Must be puberty.

Either way, mom was planning on teaching Frisk how to cook sooner or later anyway, so how could she say no to that? "Sure, why don't you get started with rolling this mincemeat into meatballs?"

Frisk took control back from Papyrus with an air of discontent. _Great, now we're stuck doing this. Thanks, Papyrus._

Papyrus was quick to retort. "OH, DON'T BE LIKE THAT! I'VE LEARNED COOKING IS A LOT OF FUN ONCE YOU GET INTO IT! MEALS TASTE A LOT BETTER ONCE YOU KNOW ALL THE CARE AND EFFORT THAT WENT INTO IT! BESIDES, WE DON'T HAVE A LOT BETTER TO DO, NOW DO WE?"

Frisk conceded that Papyrus was probably right, but they still weren't exactly happy about it. They didn't notice mom giving them an odd look. Frisk's behavior was most puzzling to her; all of that motivation from earlier was gone all of a sudden.

* * *

Sans had dozed off a few minutes in; apparently the mere act of watching repetitive tasks was incredibly sleep-inducing to him. Undyne voiced her criticisms loudly during the whole process ("Your mom's cooking technique is so boring! Where's the passion?! Stir harder, darn it!"), which Frisk didn't pay much mind to. Alphys, meanwhile, went back to brainstorming on how to solve their current situation. The whirlwind of information was a bit distracting, but Frisk managed to stay focused on their work. Papyrus' "advice" on how to prepare the pasta notwithstanding.

When dinnertime finally came around, though, Frisk had to admit Papyrus was correct in the end. This meal tasted a whole lot better than they had anticipated. It wasn't stellar, but definitely not bad for a first try. Mom seemed to agree with that.

"That was delicious, sweetie. You should help more often," she praised.

 _Uuuh. I never really know how to respond to compliments._

"THAT'S SIMPLE, I SPENT HOURS PRACTICING!" Frisk could easily believe that. "YOU JUST SMILE AND CASH IN."

 _You make it sound so easy. Why don't you show me?_

Papyrus took control of Frisk's body again and immediately displayed his usual grin. "Do not worry, mother dearest! For I, the great P- Frisk, will help you with any meals you could ever desire! Nyeh heh heh heh!" He finished by dramatically placing a hand on his (well, Frisk's) chest, head raised proudly.

The experience was surreal to Frisk; it was very odd to hear their own voice speak without their input, choosing words they would normally never say, in an inflection and tone they would normally never use.

Mom, meanwhile, looked at the whole display with a mixture of confusion and amusement. She briefly wondered if Frisk got that from some TV show character or something. "That's reassuring, dear. Have you considered a career in drama, o brave hero?"

Frisk took control back before Papyrus had the opportunity to respond (which was good, as mom's sarcasm had completely flown over his head) and ended the conversation with a neutral "hmm-hmm". The sudden shift in their expression definitely wasn't lost on mom, but they didn't comment on it further.

Frisk spent the rest of the evening watching TV. Alphys had suggested waching some anime, but there weren't any good ones on. Frisk was in the middle of arguing why they weren't going to download anime when mom told them it was time they went to bed.

"What? Already?"

"'Already'? You need to get out of bed early tomorrow."

"...Huh?"

"School, remember? Don't tell me you forgot."

* * *

 **A/N:** Just wanted to mention that I'm open to suggestions or ideas for things you'd like to see in the story. Feel free to let me know. Can't promise I'll actually use them, but who knows?


	6. Rough Day

"FRI-ISK! WAKEY WAKEY! IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL!"

Awakening to the sound of Papyrus' voice was something Frisk would probably never get used to. Especially so early in the morning. _Ugh. Who needs alarm clocks when you've got Papyrus?_

"VERY TRUE! I CAN ALWAYS BE RELIED ON. EVEN MORE SO THAN MACHINES THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO BE RELIED UPON! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Another thing Frisk would never get used to was their inner snark being listened in on. Fortunately, Papyrus wasn't easily insulted.

From the sound of it, Papyrus was once again the first to wake up. There's Sans' low grumbling, Undyne's unbridled snorting, complimented by Alphys' nasal whine, and...

...?

And... another noise. It was hard to make out at first due to Undyne's sawmill, but now that Frisk paid closer attention, there definitely seemed to be an unidentified sound. Slow breathing. It got Frisk curious.

 _Hey! Wake up, everyone!_

"FRISK IS RIGHT! IT'S HIGH TIME YOU ALL GOT UP!"

Most of the snoring stopped. Only Sans kept sawing along.

"Nnnngh? What's the big idea, you punks?" Undyne was clearly not pleased with being woken up at this early hour.

 _I think there may be someone new._

There was a terse silence as everyone waited for this supposed newcomer to fully awaken and speak up.

"...Frisk? Is that you, my child? Could you perhaps tell me where we are?"

Frisk instantly recognized the gentle, caring voice. _Toriel!_

If Frisk could, they would have run up to Toriel and given her a big hug. Unfortunately, the situation didn't allow for such luxury. In it's stead, there was only an awkward silence.

"Yes, my child, it is me, your friend and guardian. Is everything all right with you? What happened?"

Motherly concern dripped from Toriel's voice, prompting Frisk to finally speak up. Figuratively speaking, that is.

 _Oh, right. Don't worry, everything is fine... Well, fine in a sense. I'll try to explain everything on the way to school._

* * *

By the time Frisk was out the door and well on their way, they had finished their recollection of everything they knew so far, occasionally interjected by Alphys to provide a more accurate explanation of her theories.

Toriel only seemed slightly nonplussed by all that. "...I see. I suppose our condition will become worrisome if it keeps up for very long... But as long as everybody is currently safe and healthy, I see no reason for distress. Now, you... that is, we are on our way to school right now, are we not?"

 _Yup._

"Do you like it there? Have you made any friends?"

 _It's all right, I guess... But as for friends, not really. There's this one kid who's all right I guess, but we don't really meet all that often. Not much else to say._ Frisk's tone was hesitant, and it didn't take a genius to figure out they were omitting something important.

"WELL, DON'T WORRY, FRISK! YOU'VE MADE PLENTY OF FRIENDS AMONG US MONSTERS ALREADY, I CAN'T IMAGINE IT WOULD BE MUCH DIFFERENT WITH HUMANS!" Good old Papyrus, optimistic as always.

 _Heh, I guess you're probably right, Papyrus._

"OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS RIGHT! OR MOST OF THE TIME, AT THE VERY LEAST! NYEH HEH HEH!"

 _Well, we're almost there now._

"What classes do you have today?" Toriel asked inquisitively.

 _English to start with, then math, hi-_

"Hey vagrant, nice coat. Where'd you find it, the garbage dump?"

 _Ugh. And there you've got him._

Loitering around the school gate, surrounded by a group of his peers, was a relatively tall kid with short, black hair. Robert, Frisk's personal tormentor. His loud, sharp voice snapped Frisk out of their inner dialogue, back to the present. Nevertheless, they kept walking and didn't spare him a glance.

"And... who's 'him', dare we ask?" Undyne was clearly not charmed by Robert's debut performance.

"What's the matter? Lost in thought? Must be unfamiliar territory," Robert kept up his banter, earning him a chorus of weak chuckles.

 _That's Robert. He's a jerk. Just ignore him, he'll give up before long._

Robert didn't move from his position as Frisk passed him, but he tirelessly continued jeering after them. "Ohhh, giving me the silent treatment now? That's not very nice."

"Hey, Frisk?"

 _Yeah, Undyne?_

"Can I slug this punk real quick?" Undyne kept up a thin facade of tranquility, but it was obvious that her short temper was getting ever shorter.

 _I don't think that's a good idea. He'd beat me in a fistfight without a doubt, and so far he hasn't used violence yet. I'd like to keep it that way._

"...Still. The way this Robert child treats you worries me. Have you talked to any teachers about this?" Toriel inquired as they walked into the school building, out of earshot.

 _I tried once. The teachers here aren't all bad, but they suck at keeping order. Robert got off scot free, and he made sure I knew he wasn't happy with me telling on him._

Toriel definitely wasn't pleased with this. "That's awful. Part of a teacher's job is to provide an environment safe from such heckling. These people have evidently failed to uphold that standard."

 _I know, but I can't do anything about that, now can I?_ Frisk was doing their best to cut the conversation short, but Toriel was having none of it.

"Does your mother know about this?"

 _She doesn't have time to help me. And even if she did, nothing she could do would actually help. It would only worry her._

"Mothers are always worried, Frisk. Worried that you're not telling them about something like this most of all. I think you should-"

 _Look, just stop, okay? Nobody can help me, and that's that. This is my burden to bear,_ Frisk snapped.

Toriel sighed, but didn't argue further. She wasn't about to let this matter be, but for the moment she let Frisk calm down before approaching the subject again.

 _On that note, we're here._

* * *

English and math classes came and went with precious little noteworthy happening. On one hand, having five monsters in your head had it's advantages; Toriel and Alphys were happy to help them with any questions they had. On the other hand, Undyne complaining every five minutes about how bored she was and Papyrus' curiosity ("WHAT'S THIS? WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE?") were getting annoying. About halfway through math class, Sans finally awoke from his sleep, noted that he wasn't missing much, and went right back to napping, despite Papyrus' protests about how he was missing a valuable opportunity to learn about human society and culture.

Frisk spent the morning break by themselves, eating an apple they had packed while conversing with the monsters about this and that. Robert made a snide remark about their loneliness as he passed them by, but Frisk didn't pay any mind to it (Undyne did, though, and it took Papyrus and Alphys considerable effort to get her to calm down).

Now that the break period was over and it was time for history class, however, Frisk's mind suddenly went into full panic as they were reminded of something important.

Today they had an important history test scheduled.

And what with their whole adventure in the Underground, Frisk had forgotten all about it.

So there Frisk sat behind their desk, having a minor freakout while doing their best to remember anything they had learned about this subject. It had technically been less than a week since their last lesson, but it seemed like an eternity ago.

Unfortunately, this was the one subject which the monsters absolutely could not help Frisk with. Even factoring out the likely possibility that they were from another world entirely, being isolated underground for a very long time tends to make keeping up with important historical events very difficult.

In the middle of Frisk's bout of hysteria, Sans awoke from his slumber once more. He spent a couple of minutes surveying the situation. Then, with a voice that betrayed no sense of urgency or alarm, spoke up. "gee, frisk."

 _...What?_

"i guess you really shoulda... _boned up_ for this exam."

"SANS, IS THIS REALLY THE TIME FOR-" Papyrus started, only to be interrupted by Frisk's internal chuckling.

 _No, no, that was a good one._

Now mentally calm and refreshed, they went digging through their memory again to find any nuggets of useful info. It wasn't long before Sans piped up again. "hey, frisk."

 _Yeah?_

"make sure you get the extra questions. you know, for _bone_ -us points."

This got Frisk giggling uncontrollably. The puns weren't all that funny by themselves, but the sheer absurdity of it caught them completely off guard. Toriel was laughing now, too, albeit with a tone of guilt.

"Sans, please, don't distract Frisk while they're taking a test," she reprimanded between fits of laughter.

"oh, come now, toriel. you should know by now that once i get going, i don't have the _tendon_ cy to just stop."

Frisk was already in stitches, but Papyrus' increased dismay was just too much for them. They nearly doubled up, trying desperately to get a hold of themselves.

All that abruptly stopped when they suddenly became conscious of the fact that they were guffawing loudly in the middle of class during a test. And everyone was staring at them. The teacher especially did not look amused by all this.

"Is it really that hilarious, Frisk? Anything you want to share with the rest of the class?"

Frisk's eyes darted around, desperately trying to come up with an explanation as for why they just burst out laughing for no apparent reason. "I, uh... I... I'm sorry. I just... thought of something funny."

"Uh huh." The teacher didn't sound convinced at all, but they weren't about to disrupt the class further by starting an argument. They simply gave Frisk the don't-let-this-happen-again stare, after which the room returned to silence.

Frisk was about to bury their face back in their work, but they couldn't help but notice Robert grinning condescendingly at them. _Oh, no. He's never going to let me hear the end of this. I'm officially the weirdo now._

The monsters were all dead quiet. None of them knew how to respond to the situation. Frisk, meanwhile, felt like they were about to sink through the floor in shame. They were doing a pretty convincing impression of Napstablook's "Stare blankly ahead and pretend you don't exist" shtick. Unfortunately for Frisk, turning invisible and phasing through the walls was out of the question.

Finally, they got their bearings and went back to their test in a huff. _Thanks a lot, Sans._

"kid, i- look, i was just trying to help you out, ok? you can't think straight when you're in a panic, and humor usually helps calm people down. i just didn't think it all the way through." Sans was trying his best to explain himself, but it didn't make Frisk any less upset.

 _Oh, shut it. This is the second time you've embarrassed me today._

"what? the second time?"

 _That coat of yours looks like it came from a garbage dump._

"who said that?" Sans wasn't easily offended, but it seemed like this one struck him.

 _Robert over there did this morning, while you were still asleep._

Sans' voice went ice cold. "Oh. Did he, now."

After that, Frisk didn't feel like talking about it further.

* * *

In the end, Frisk just about managed to get a sufficient score, but it was a close call. Robert got a much higher score than them, which was a rare occurrence. He, of course, took every opportunity to rub it in, along with making fun of their acute laughing fit. It all served to make Frisk very embarrassed and uncomfortable. By lunch break, they were already drained, and they still had most of the week left to go.

 _Uuugh. I just want today to be over._

"mondays, am i right? heh heh... heh." Sans was doing his best to get back on Frisk's good side, but it wasn't working very well.

"Hey, Frisk. Mind if I sit here?"

Frisk looked up to a more-or-less familiar face. In front of them was a boy about their age with thin-rimmed glasses and light brown, curtained hair.

"Who's this, then? Another bully?" Undyne inquired cautiously.

 _No, this is Ben. He's the kid I mentioned this morning. He's a good guy, we share some classes, but we don't really talk all that much,_ Frisk explained while simultaneously gesturing for Ben to go ahead.

"Thanks. Say, I'm just curious, what was that all about in history class?" Ben inquired. It was a genuine question, but after all the teasing Robert put them through, Frisk would rather forget about it.

 _Uhh... Guys, what do I tell him?_

"...lemme talk to him. i think i got this."

 _What, so you can embarrass me again?_

"look, i got you in this mess, i can at least try and contain the damage a bit, right? gimme a shot. hurry, now, before the silence gets awkward."

Ben waited patiently as Frisk seemed to contemplate their answer. Then, they looked at him with a lax smile and quipped, "Oh, well, remember that question about how two guys invented calculus shortly after one another? It all struck me as a bit _derivative_."

There were a few seconds of silence as Frisk mentally facepalmed and hoped Ben didn't pick up on their voice being much lower than usual... And having an out of place New York-esque accent. _That the best you got, Sans?_

"wait for it."

Another second or two passed. Then, Ben couldn't help but crack a smirk while wheezing out a quiet laugh. "Oh, boy. Haven't heard that one yet."

"Frisk"s grin grew, and "they" took it as a sign to keep going. "And then we're supposed to describe Napoleon Bonaparte's origins. And I thought to myself, _'course I can_!"

Ben kept on laughing. "Oh man, that one's terrible. Where'd you find those, internet?"

"you were right about this ben kid, frisk. he's got taste in comedy, that's for sure," Sans commented. Then, out loud, "No, I thought those up myself. But I tend to stay away from jokes about the American civil war, people general _-lee_ don't find those funny."

 _I skimmed through a few pages of the history book after class and now you have knowledge about all these subjects all of a sudden?!_ Frisk remarked incredulously.

"LEAVE IT TO SANS TO MEMORIZE ALL THAT INFO IN RECORD TIME JUST SO HE CAN MAKE MORE OF THOSE AWFUL PUNS," Papyrus lamented.

"Think you're funny, don't you?"

That would be Robert's voice, cutting through the air like a hot knife through butter. Sans was annoyed with his interjection, but his grin didn't falter. Instead, he turned and said, "Oh, I get that you wouldn't find it very amusing. After all, you've got so little class, you could be a Marxist utopia."

Ben was laughing like a hyena at this point, but Robert clearly wasn't amused. He narrowed his eyes and tried to figure out what made Frisk so confident all of a sudden. Normally his mere presence made them obviously insecure of themselves, especially after that display in history class. And now they suddenly had the nerve to backsass him? Maybe he should knock them down a peg.

Not right now, though. He made a facial expression that could only be interpreted as "just you wait" and slunk off.

 _Huh. That actually worked out okay._

"what did i tell you? a little humor fixes everything. think you can take the wheel back from here?"

 _...Yeah. Thanks, Sans._ Frisk only now remembered that taking control of their body was very taxing to monsters. Normally, Sans would never be willing to go through that effort. He must really care about making it up to them.

"my pleasure."

* * *

Frisk collapsed on the couch as soon as they got home. _Bah. Talk about a rough start of the week._

"I am still concerned about Robert, though," Toriel spoke up. "He seemed to be planning something unpleasant."

"He'd better not. I'll be keeping my eye on him," Undyne growled.

 _Let him be. He's all talk._

"Are you sure you shouldn't tell your mother about this?" Toriel persisted.

 _She can't help me. She doesn't need to know._

Toriel didn't respond for a moment, seemingly contemplating something. Then, she carefully spoke up again. "...Frisk, may I ask you something?"

 _Hmm?_

"When we reached the surface, I asked you if you had any place to return to. You told me no. You told me that you wanted to stay with me. But evidently you already have a home and a mother to take care of you. So why, then...?"

Frisk was quiet for a very long time. After a full minute of silence, Toriel cautiously prompted them to speak once more. "Frisk...?"

There were a couple more seconds of silence. And then Frisk buried their face in their hands. Their irregular breathing and jerky movements betrayed that they were crying, and quite badly at that.

"Frisk, what's wrong? Ssssh, Frisk, talk to me, you can tell me."

 _I... I'm sorry, I- I j-just thought that..._

A couple seconds of silence. None of the other monsters wanted to interrupt this emotional moment, preferring to let Toriel do the talking. She had the most experience dealing with children, after all. "What did you think, Frisk? It's okay..."

 _M... Mom has to work all week, the whole day. S-she leaves before I get up and doesn't c-come home before nightfall. She hhhas to work so hard just to keep me healthy... Every d-d-day I live in fear that she'll burn herself out. And t-then we'll both be in deep trouble... I-I thought, if you take care of me, then m-mom won't have to work so hard and we'll b-both be safer and happier..._

"Oh, Frisk." Toriel spent several moments making shushing sounds. "No, no, no, no. You mustn't think that way. I have yet to meet your mother for myself, but judging from your description, she cares about you very much. Probably more than anything in the world. Leaving her like that wouldn't make her happy. In fact, it might mean that she wouldn't be happy ever again."

 _B-but dad left when I was only just born because he d-doesn't care about me. Why would mom be any d-different?_

"I... can't speak for your father, I'm afraid. I have no idea what went through his head when he did that." The subject of parents splitting apart was a delicate subject for Toriel. "What I can tell you is that the very fact that your mother didn't follow suit proves that she doesn't think like him. She was tasked with doing your father's job for him on top of her own duties, and she did it all for years. Even now. Doesn't that tell you how much she loves you?"

Frisk didn't respond, but the sobbing only got worse. Only after another minute or two of gentle comforting did they calm down again.

"There. Feeling better now?"

 _U-uh huh._

"Good."

* * *

When mom came home that night, Frisk was already lying in bed, fast asleep. They seemed peaceful, but looking closer, mom noticed with concern that the area around their eyes was stained with dried tears.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whew, this chapter was a doozy. Longest one so far. Hope you all enjoyed.


	7. Collision

The week went by at an excruciatingly slow pace. School was as boring as ever, their time after school was as lonely as ever, Robert was as obnoxious as ever... The only thing that spiced up the routine a bit for Frisk were the monsters in their head, providing some commentary, casually assisting them with their homework here and there, telling the occasional joke or wisecrack. But even that didn't help all that much.

Alphys' increasing desperation was the worst. She could come up with precious few plausible solutions to their problem and none of them provided any useful results. Their lack of new knowledge didn't help either. In short, no progress was made since Toriel's arrival and it was driving the lizard scientist mad. They were all counting on her to figure this out, yet she was powerless. It didn't do her still-mending self-esteem any wonders. And as a direct consequence of that, Undyne was beating herself up for not being able to do anything to help, dragging the mood further down.

Still, there was a small light at the end of the tunnel, some solace to look forward to. Today was Friday. Just one more day of dreariness to go until the weekend.

The day didn't start off very well, though. Robert's latest, ever-so-subtle method of annoying them was to stand in the doorway to biology class so Frisk couldn't get in, back turned to them. It was an obvious instigation; Robert had been trying to get under Frisk's skin all week in the hopes that they would snap and attempt to physically harm him, which would give him an excuse to "retaliate".

Unfortunately for Robert, Frisk was not falling for any of it. Violence was exclusively a last resort to them, as it has always been. Undyne was increasingly incredulous with their behavior, wondering again and again how they put up with him.

After the fifth time of _politely_ asking him to move, Robert finally relented. "Whatever you say, Dora," he snidely admitted defeat.

"Frisk, why did he just call you... 'Dora'?" Toriel asked.

 _Dora is some stupid TV show character that I happen to vaguely resemble. He thinks it's funny._

"I am getting really tired of this brat's shi- ...nonsense," Undyne caught herself.

 _Whatever. He can't keep doing this forever, right?_

"...Right," Undyne snarled.

When they found their desk and the biology teacher finally came in to start the lesson, Frisk noted that today they were going to talk about the human skeleton. Oh, boy.

"HEY, FRISK! I THOUGHT YOU SAID MONSTERS DIDN'T EXIST IN THIS WORLD? BUT NOW THEY'RE TEACHING YOU ALL ABOUT US ANYWAY!" Papyrus was quick to comment.

 _No, no, no, this isn't about you._

"...HUH?!" Papyrus was completely lost.

Toriel stepped in to explain while Frisk tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. "All humans have skeletons to support all their organs, Papyrus. Without that, they'd collapse into a pile."

"WHAAAT? THAT'S CRAZY. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT. WE LOOK NOTHING ALIKE!"

 _Look._ Frisk demonstrated by flexing their fingers awkwardly, so that their metacarpals pressed visibly against the skin on the back of their hand. _Bones, see? And..._ They inhaled deeply and rubbed their hand against the side of their chest, hoping nobody would notice the odd gesture. _Here I've got my ribcage._

"...THAT'S AWFUL. YOU KEEP SKELETONS TRAPPED IN YOUR BODY?" Papyrus sounded a little nauseous.

 _No, silly. These skeletons aren't alive like you are. They're part of us._

"SO YOU WERE PART SKELETON ALL ALONG?! YOU'VE NEVER TOLD ME THAT BEFORE!" That queasiness from before was replaced with boundless excitement in an instant.

 _...Yeah, that's close enough. In a sense, we're all part skeleton, I guess._

"THAT'S SO COOL! WE'RE ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY! NOW I DON'T FEEL SO BAD ABOUT BEING STUCK IN HERE ANYMORE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

* * *

Frisk spent almost the entire biology lesson studying pictures of skeletons with Papyrus, who was practically entranced with curiosity. He only snapped out of it briefly to wake up Sans and tell him all about it. Frisk had expected Sans to respond with his usual disinterest, but he seemed almost as curious as Papyrus was, if a little more reserved about it. Near the end of the lesson, however, Sans nodded off again.

After biology class, it was time for English. Most of it came and went without any hassle, but when the teacher described the term "Fishwife" as a rude, rough and/or vulgar woman who is prone to shouting, it hit a little too close to home for Undyne. It took quite a bit of effort to convince her not to take it personally.

Then, after morning break, it was time for P.E. class. Now, normally Frisk didn't mind P.E. all that much. It could be fun. It could be, except when the teacher decided that it wasn't going to be. By choosing a sport most of the class isn't very fond of, like, say...

"Softball."

A chorus of groans sounded, followed by hushed complaints ("Does he even know what season it is?" "Can't we do something fun for once?" "This is why nobody likes you, teach."). Before the teacher could even berate them, his job was done for him.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching, you pansies," Robert told off his classmates with a glare.

Frisk, meanwhile, had their own internal conversation to worry about.

"So what's "softball", then? Doesn't sound very impressive," Undyne asked.

 _Have you ever heard of baseball?_

"Not really. I think some stuff like that washes up at the garbage dump every once in a while, but we never could figure out what it was for."

 _Ah, well, basically, it's a variation of that sport,_ Frisk explained as the class headed outside to the field. _Only with a supposedly softer ball. One team tries to hit a ball with a bat and then run a lap around the field before the other team can find and bring the ball back._

"Hitting a ball with a bat? That sounds like it could be dangerous. Is there any protective equipment?" Toriel asked, obviously concerned.

 _There's supposed to be. A helmet, for instance. Only our teacher usually doesn't bother with it._

"That's... very irresponsible." Toriel's voice sounded like she might have used more colorful wording if the situation allowed for it.

 _What's the worst that could happen?_ Frisk asked rhetorically before continuing their explanation. _There's a few "bases" which act like checkpoints where you can stop part of the way through if you can't make it all the way. Eventually the teams switch places, and whoever can run the most laps wins. There's a couple more rules, but that's the gist of it._

"So... It's a game where you distract your opponent, then run away as fast as you can." Undyne snorted, obviously unimpressed. "You must be really good at that."

 _Not really. I hate it. Robert's great at it, though. He can send the ball exactly where he wants it to go. I hope I get to be on his team._

"Pffft. If I were you, I'd take this opportunity to thoroughly humiliate him at his own game. He deserves that much."

Much to Frisk's delight, they were indeed assigned to Robert's team along with Ben and several other kids, although the way Robert was grinning like a hungry predator was a little unnerving. He was usually gleeful at the opportunity to beat everyone else at a game he was unequivocally superior at, but this was excessive, even for him.

"All right, listen up. We're batting first. Simon, you start. Then Dan, then Frisk. You all move up one base each time, got it? No taking risks. Then I'll go and bat it far out so we can all run home," Robert announced.

"Who does this guy think he is?!" Undyne's frustration with Robert had been building up all week, and Frisk began to worry if she could contain herself much longer. The weekend couldn't come sooner.

 _Calm down, okay? He's a jerk and a showboat, but he knows what he's doing._

And so Simon went, followed by Dan, both kids doing exactly what they were asked. Next it was Frisk's turn. They just hoped they wouldn't disappoint. Ben gave them an encouraging thumbs-up as they passed by, but that only told Frisk that their nervousness was plain for all to see.

Still, they managed to hit the ball and reach first base fairly easily. Undyne grumbled how they could've easily made it further, but Dan hadn't moved beyond second base, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Now it was time for Robert to show off his amazing skills. As he moved up, still flashing that malicious grin, Frisk noticed that he was gazing at them in particular, almost like he was sizing them up. Ben was nervously eyeballing Robert from his spot at the sidelines, then shot Frisk an odd look, then back to Robert. Was something about to happen? Frisk decided worrying about that wouldn't help, and instead focused on where they needed to go, resolving to start running as soon as they heard the bat impact with the ball.

Several tense seconds went by. Then, the very moment that telltale sound rang out, Frisk sped off. Within a split second, they had already almost reached second base, when-

"Frisk, WATCH OUT!"

Frisk had just enough time to hear Ben's voice and process what he said, but unfortunately not quite enough to act on it.

 **PAFF**

Something impacted with Frisk's left cheek, **hard.** They instantly lost balance and fell to the right, landing on their side. Something in their right arm went _CRUNCH_ , sending out a wave of intense yet strangely numbing pain. Their forward momentum sent them rolling over a little, bringing them to rest face-up. They couldn't tell what was going on around them any longer, and they felt their consciousness slipping away fast. The last thing they heard before everything faded away were the voices. Toriel, Papyrus and Alphys sounded distraught, but their words were drowned out by Undyne's bewildered yelling.

"Are you SERIOUS?! You dodged ALL of my spears back then and you're gonna let that little ball- the ONLY ball on the field hit you?! Oh, how freaking DARE that little- I'll freaking kill him! Hey, Frisk, get up! ...Frisk? C'mon, buddy, now's not the time for a nap! Frisk...!"

* * *

It took a little while for the entire game to grind to a standstill. Ben felt a little guilty. He could tell that Robert was up to something, but he had made no attempt to warn Frisk until it was already too late. As for Robert himself, from the looks of it he might have finally realized that maybe this went too far. Too little, too late.

The teacher, that useless asshole, was making his way over to where Frisk lay unconscious. When he was almost there, though, Frisk's right eye suddenly snapped open and they shakily staggered to their feet, a furious look on their face.

"Whoa, Frisk, hold on now, you shouldn't be moving arou..."

The teacher's words sputtered out as Frisk blatantly ignored him, shambling past slowly but steadily. From the way they were caressing their right arm, something was definitely wrong with it, but they didn't seem concerned enough to stop and have it checked.

Instead, they shuffled over to where Robert was standing. Nobody knew what to say or what to do, least of all Robert.

Several painfully slow seconds later, Frisk had reached Robert's position, and now they were having a staring contest.

Ben watched the scene with bated breath. Everyone in class was at least vaguely aware of how Robert treated Frisk, and how much worse it was getting lately. It didn't take an oracle to predict that this would come to a head soon. From the looks of it, this was the moment.

And that moment stretched for what seemed like an eternity as the two children just stared at each other. Unmoving, unblinking.

...

Finally, Robert moved to say something, anything, to break up the silence. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, though, Frisk's left arm whipped back and launched forward, planting a fist directly against Robert's chin.

Robert stumbled back and fell on his rear, more from astonishment than the actual force of the blow. He could only rub his chin and stare, slack-jawed.

"You did that on purpose, you **punk** ," Frisk snarled.

Then, without saying anything further or looking at anyone else, they stumbled towards the edge of the field and half-laid down, half-collapsed, at which point the teacher finally came back to life and moved to check on them.

Suffice it to say, the entire class was stunned by what just happened. It was surreal. Frisk, the child who would not hurt a fly, just went and punched Robert in the face.

* * *

Frisk regained consciousness laying on a less-than-comfortable bed, in a room which they soon recognized to be the school nurse's office.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all right," Toriel sighed.

 _Whuuhh... What happened?_

"YOU WERE HIT BY A FLYING BALL AND LOST CONSCIOUSNESS! I WAS WORRIED SICK!" Papyrus yelled, far too loud for Frisk's liking.

"Pff, 'softer ball', my foot. To think, the kid that survived everything the Underground could throw at them, felled by a little ball..." Undyne commented.

 _A... ball? I don't remember anything..._

Just then, the nurse came in. "Ah, you're awake, I see. How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy... And my arm hurts," Frisk replied.

"That's to be expected. You've got a concussion and a fracture in your upper arm," the nurse explained.

Frisk only now noticed that their hurting arm was being held in place by a sling. "So what exactly happened?"

"You don't remember, do you? That's the concussion's fault. Anyway, that Robert kid sent a ball straight for your face during a game of softball. Then you fell over and landed on your arm."

Frisk nodded. "Ah, yeah, I think that sounds about right..."

"And then you just stood up and punched him immediately afterward."

"I... what?!"

The nurse nodded to affirm that, yes, they heard right. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. That's a perfectly understandable response after all that happened, and Robert's fine."

"Yeah, but... I don't remember doing that at all."

"Concussion. Anyway, looks like you were lucky with your arm. It'll probably heal fairly quickly."

"That's nice, I guess..." Frisk paused, still a bit woozy. "So... What now? Do I just go back to class?" They certainly weren't looking forward to facing Robert after having apparently punched him, especially in the state they were in now.

"No, we should get you home. It's Friday anyway, and you need some rest. Do you have your mom's phone number?"

"She's at work right now, she can't pick me up. I can make my own way home," Frisk claimed.

"Absolutely not. Concussions can cause spells of sudden dizziness. What if you walk onto the road and get run over? I'll get a teacher to bring you home."

The nurse left to make a call, giving Frisk some alone time. Well, not completely alone.

 _So do you guys know what happened? Did I really punch Robert?_

"Uh, that depends on your t-technical definition of 'you', heheh," Alphys dryly commented.

 _What do you mean?_

"What she means is, I took over for you while you were out and showed that punk why you don't mess with us! Fuhuhuhu!" Undyne victoriously declared.

 _...Oh, no. Oh no, no, no. Now that I've used violence, the gloves are off. He'll wreck me._ Panic began enveloping Frisk's consciousness.

"Frisk, listen." Undyne's voice wasn't usually this calm and sincere. "I understand why you believe what you believe. Your goody-goody attitude turned out to be exactly what us monsters needed. Hell, we'd probably have never become friends if it wasn't for that."

Frisk took a deep breath, but said nothing.

"But this kid just sent a ball directly for your head, and I'm dead certain that it was not an accident. I know humans are tough, but I also know a thing or two about weak points. That might've messed you up **real** bad if you were unlucky, Frisk. You can't let him get away with that, or he'll do it again. And maybe next time you won't be so lucky."

 _But now he's mad! He'll want revenge!_

"Yeah? Well, he can come get it. There's more where that came from. You said it yourself, this is your problem, no one else can help. And if you don't have the guts to solve this problem of yours, then I will do it for you," Undyne announced.

 _You can't do this!_ Panic gave way to anger. _This is my body. I'm fine with you tagging along, but you can't just take control like that and live my life for me!_

"frisk, buddy, you're absolutely right." Frisk flinched from Sans' voice; they hadn't even realized he was awake. "we technically have no right to intrude on your personal affairs uninvited like this. and if it were any different, we'd have done otherwise."

 _...However?_

"however, it's just not that simple." Sans sighed. "remember what alphys told us? we don't know how many monster souls you're hauling around with you. it could be just us, or it could be several dozen..." Sans paused for dramatic effect. "or it could be all of them. every single one. anything that happens to you happens to all of us as well. i hate to tell you this, but we **need** to make sure you're safe. there's so much potentially at stake here. we can't afford not to care anymore."

Well, that was a sobering thought. Maybe, just maybe, all of monsterkind rested on their shoulders. Frisk gulped a little.

"hey, it's all right, though. you're doing fine. but i agree with undyne, you needed to stand your ground there. it's like my bro always says: anybody can be a good person if they really try. but y'know, sometimes they just need some... encouragement."

"SANS... I'M NOT SURE IF I AGREE WITH YOU OR NOT, BUT THAT SURE SOUNDED PROFOUND! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Papyrus praised.

"heh. you didn't think my skull was full of air, did you?"

"THAT SAID, THOUGH... WHAT EXACTLY IS WRONG WITH YOUR ARM, FRISK? THAT DOCTOR LADY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT A "FRACTURE", BUT I DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT."

 _Ah... Well, you remember the lesson this morning about skeletons, right? When I landed, one of the bones keeping my arm in place snapped._

"...OH DEAR." Papyrus sounded very worried. "W-WILL IT GET BETTER?!"

 _Yes, yes. This sling keeps it in place so the bones grow back together._ Frisk briefly mused if a broken bone to a skeleton was like a severed limb to humans. They suppressed the thought with a shudder. _It'll take a little while before I can use this arm again, but it'll be just fine._

"PHEW. THANK GOD."

Around then, the nurse came back. "I've arranged for someone to bring you home. Can you walk?"

Frisk nodded. "I think so."

"Good."

* * *

When Frisk came home, they killed some time watching TV, waiting for mom to come home from work. When she eventually did, late in the evening, she was naturally quite distraught at Frisk's condition. Frisk tried to shrug it off ("It's okay, mom. I just tripped during P.E. I'm fine."), but mom was having none of it and moved away to make a phone call. When she came back, she announced she had taken the next day off.

"What? Why?"

"To look after you, of course. I'm not having you spend the whole day alone with a concussion and a broken arm."

 _Well, that depends on your definition of "alone"._

When Frisk didn't respond further, mom looked at the clock. "Now, how about you head off to bed early? A good night's rest will probably help a lot."

"All right, all right..."

As it turned out, this was easier said than done. There was no comfortable position for Frisk to hold their arm. The dull headache didn't help either. After about half an hour of tossing and turning- Undyne, Alphys and Toriel had already fallen asleep at some point- Sans suddenly spoke up.

"hey, frisk. can i check out your arm for a sec?"

It was certainly an odd and sudden request, but Frisk didn't see much harm in it. _Sure, just be careful, ok?_

"thanks, buddy."

Sans took control and began moving the arm about in small, jerky movements.

 _Owowowow... Don't move it around so much,_ Frisk complained.

"sorry. this should be about right."

 _About right for what?_

Sans didn't respond. Frisk felt a tingly sensation in their arm.

"hey, papyrus."

"MMH? WHAT?"

"help me out here, would ya?"

"WHAT ARE YOU... OH."

 _Mind filling me in here, guys?_

Sans took a moment to reply. "ssh. need to concentrate. will explain later."

 _All right, then..._

Frisk stared blankly toward the ceiling and tried to guess what the skeleton brothers were doing, but the sensation was almost soothing. Soon, fatigue overtook them.

* * *

Frisk woke up quite late in the morning. Odd. Papyrus hadn't woken them up early as usual, nor was he even awake to greet them. It was quite rare to catch the taller skeleton brother sleeping, but the rhythmic, almost childish snoring could only belong to him.

Oh well. Seems like everyone slept in sooner or later, even Papyrus. Frisk went on their morning routine while the monsters were still fast asleep.

It was only after Frisk rubbed their eyes with both hands that they realized their right arm was completely healed.

* * *

 **A/N:** I've been looking forward to writing this chapter, personally. It was a bit of a challenge, but I think it turned out okay. Hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it.


	8. Magic Words

Frisk stared at their now once again fully functional limb in utter confusion. It was still bruised from the fall, but the bone within seemed to have completely mended overnight. _What...?_ Wait, last night the skeleton brothers were doing... something... Were they the cause of this?

 _Hey! Sans! Papyrus! Wake up!_

Neither skeleton responded. They must be exhausted. By what, exactly? What did they do?

Frisk heard their mom approaching the door to their room. She must have realized they were awake and were coming to check on their condition. She couldn't know their arm was better. Frisk would never be able to explain this away, they didn't even know how this happened themselves!

Hastily stowing their arm in the sling, they turned to face the door as it opened.

"Hey, sweetie. Slept well?" Mom asked.

"Mmhmm." Frisk did their best to appear nonchalant.

"That's good. I've made breakfast, so why don't you come over?"

"Uhh, sure."

Mom noted that Frisk seemed a little aloof, but wrote it off as a symptom of the concussion. With that, she closed the door, and Frisk breathed a sigh.

They sat still on their bed for a couple seconds, just listening to the snoring monsters and contemplating. _I hope they wake up soon. I need some answers here._

* * *

"All right dear, I'm going grocery shopping. I won't be far, so if anything goes wrong, call me immediately, okay?"

"Sure, mom."

"Bye, dear."

As soon as the door slammed shut, Frisk decided they had waited long enough. It was almost noon now, and the monsters were still asleep.

 _HEEEEEY! WAKE UP!_

Finally, the snoring noise stopped. Frisk hadn't even realized how obnoxious it was getting until sweet silence replaced it.

"ngh... oh, hey, good morning, kiddo." Sans was as nonchalant as ever.

 _Morning. Say, I was wondering, could you explain this?_ Frisk waved their right hand in front of their face.

"uhh... i dunno what you're talking about. could you gimme a _hand_?"

 _My arm's better. I'm willing to bet you and Papyrus fixed that last night._

"huh? oh, that. well, that's a long story, but the short of it is that we skeletons have a defensive instinct. when we feel one of our bones is fractured, we need to mend it immediately. i guess the effect's same as long as i'm piggybacking off of you," Sans explained.

 _That's interesting and all, but exactly **how** did you fix my arm?_

"whaddaya think? magic, duh."

Frisk didn't respond for a while, letting Sans reach his own conclusion.

"...wait a minute."

 _You can use magic._ Frisk could hardly believe it. _You can use magic! Holy shit!_

"Frisk! Language!" Toriel's voice cut in. Only then did Frisk realize that their internal shouting probably woke up everyone at once.

 _Oh, uhm, sorry._

"What's this I hear? We could've used magic all along?" Undyne rhetorically asked. "You could've told me that sooner! Now I can stick a spear in that insolent little brat's neck! Fuhuhuhu!"

 _But how? I thought humans couldn't use magic._

"...what gave you that ridiculous idea?" Sans asked.

 _Uhhh... How about, pretty much every person in history who claimed to be capable of magic turned out to be a fraud?_

"Frisk, dear, how much did you learn about monster history?" Toriel inquired.

 _I read those wall plaques in Waterfall, why?_

"Why, you ask?! Did you forget already?" Undyne asked with a hint of offense. "The barrier that kept us all trapped was created by seven human magicians. I don't think they could do that if humans aren't capable of magic."

 _But then, no human being I know of can use magic._

"I-I think I can explain that," Alphys piped up. "You see, magic is usually cast with the help of very specific mental i-incantations. Monster children use specific words as mnemonic aids t-to help them focus and steer their magic. They speak these words out l-loud at first, but after a while just thinking them is enough. Maybe humans in this world never learned how to use those words, and th-therefore their capacity to use magic just a-atrophied."

 _So what you're saying is, if I knew those words, I could learn to use magic myself?_

"It'd be a rather difficult learning process due to all those centuries of n-not using your magic, but yeah, b-basically," Alphys concluded.

 _Wow. I could be the first human wizard in forever!_ Frisk couldn't contain their building excitement.

"now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. let's focus on how we can use magic to solve our little predicament," Sans suggested.

 _Oh, right._

Papyrus yawned loudly, fully awake at last. "GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE! FRISK, I'M SORRY TO BE SO BLUNT, BUT YOUR MAGIC RESERVES ARE AWFUL! I NEARLY KNOCKED MYSELF OUT JUST MENDING THAT ONE FRACTURE!"

 _Well hey, cut me some slack, I'm out of practice,_ Frisk replied in mock-offense.

"Oh, oh my God, magic would make figuring this out so much easier... H-hold on, I need to think for a minute,"Alphys spoke, mostly to herself. Frisk was used to Alphys' brainstorm sessions at this point and could filter out the foreign information, but they tried to sift through anything they could understand in the hopes of learning some spells of their own. No such luck.

 _Well, in the meantime, why don't you show me what you all can do with your magic?_

* * *

Half an hour later, every monster had the chance to try out the extent of their abilities. As it turned out, using magic was about as tiring and limited as moving about. Toriel never managed to make more than a few sparks appear, after which she insisted she didn't want to try again, lest she would lose control and set the apartment on fire.

Then it was Undyne's turn. With a bellow of "NGAAAAAH!", she summoned her signature blue spear, and then another one, and another, and another. Soon, a small pile of spears had formed. Papyrus and Frisk applauded the fish warrior's effort. The fact that the spears in question were smaller than toothpicks and would probably snap in two if Frisk stared at them too hard went entirely unmentioned. After a scant twenty seconds, the miniature weapons disintegrated again.

Papyrus only managed to conjure a single, thin bone that was about as long as the span between Frisk's thumb and pinky finger. However, much to Frisk's surprise, the bone turned out to be extremely tough; when Frisk tried to break it with both hands, they found out they couldn't. "NYEH HEH HEH! DO NOT WASTE YOUR ENERGY, FOR BONES PRODUCED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS ARE ONLY OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY AND WILL NOT YIELD EASILY TO BRUTE FORCE!" Papyrus had triumphantly declared. Frisk had to admit he was most likely correct.

Sans didn't really bother trying when prompted, to no one's surprise. Frisk sighed and paced about a bit, then nearly tripped when a sudden weight fell over them, forcing them to sink to their knees. Papyrus' agitated reprimands about how "YOU CAN'T JUST USE THE BLUE ATTACK FOR MEAN-SPIRITED PRANKS LIKE THAT", followed by Sans' snickering, told Frisk that Sans' magical abilities were working just fine.

Shortly after that, Alphys presented what she had come up with. "I've d-devised a new, simple spell that should give us a rough estimate of how m-m-many souls Frisk currently has with them."

"All right! Yeah! I knew you could figure something out, Al!" Undyne preemptively praised Alphys' work, to which the latter giggled self-consciously.

 _How does that work, then?_

"It sends out a magical s-signal, which bounces back when it comes into contact with soul power. Sort of like how bats use ech-echolocation to move around in the dark. The more soul power, the stronger the feedback. That should tell us what we need," Alphys explained.

 _I see. Well, fire it up, then._

"A-all right. I've never used this before- in fact, I-I'm not very good at magic in general, so bear with me, o-okay?"

Alphys assumed command of Frisk's body and raised a hand (slowly- her ability to steer the body was quite feeble compared to Undyne or Papyrus), then willed the spell to activate by forcefully pronouncing a string of nonsense syllables.

 **"Rrrarmodaculaf!"**

Before Frisk had the chance to comment on how silly that sounded, an extremely sharp and loud ringing in their ears overtook them. They took command back from Alphys (who was currently in a panic) and clutched their head. After a few seconds of agonizing pain, the ringing subsided, and Frisk could hear Alphys' voice again.

"...so sorry I'm so sorry I... I... That was my fault..."

 _It's... It's all right. What exactly happened?_

"The spell worked correctly. But I made an assumption that I thought was s-safe, which turned out to be false. Although I cannot fathom why."

 _What assumption?_

"I tuned the spell for any amount of feedback between the equivalent of one human soul and a little over two human souls. Y-you know, since all monster souls combined equal to roughly one human soul. But the feedback we actually got was much more than that."

 _Huh? More?_ Frisk couldn't understand. _How could there possibly be any more than that?_

Frisk was snapped out of the conversation and back to reality when the front door slammed. Frisk turned and raised their right hand in greeting. "Hi, mom."

"Hello, Fri- ...Hm." Mom paused mid-sentence and narrowed her eyes at her child. Frisk wondered what the problem was.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Frisk?" Mom asked in a deceptively calm voice.

"hey, frisk, how exactly did you explain your arm being better to your mom?" Sans innocently inquired.

 _...I didn't,_ Frisk realized their mistake, all too late.

"oh. we're in trouble, then."

Frisk suppressed a wince when mom took their arm, examining it and confirming that it was definitely not broken. "Well?" she prompted an explanation.

"Uhh..." _Guys, help!_

Frisk got a rapid-fire string of suggestions ("TELL HER YOU'RE A SUPERHERO, AND YOU'VE GOT SUPER HEALING POWERS! IT'S NOT THAT FAR FROM THE TRUTH!" "distract her with a sneaky pun, always works." "Uh, um, say it's a scientific anomaly? N-no, she would never buy that..." "Just tell her to mind her own business! Why should she care?" "Mothers always know when you're lying, Frisk. It's better to be straightforward with her."), none of which helped in the slightest. When they took too long to come up with a plausible excuse, mom sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Frisk, I would have never thought you'd do this. How did you trick the school nurse? More importantly, why?" she asked, sounding a little betrayed. Frisk winced at the tone of her voice, but couldn't tell her the truth even if they wanted to. She would never believe it, anyway.

When Frisk still didn't answer, mom glared at them, equal parts anger and hurt in her gaze. "This won't happen ever again, do you hear me? You can't just skip school like this."

"Yes, mom," Frisk simply replied, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

"Good," mom curtly ended the conversation. It didn't sound "good" at all.

* * *

Frisk lay in their bed, tossing and turning about. Most of the monsters were quietly sleeping by now, but they had been unable to catch any shut-eye yet. Mixed feelings of guilt and frustration swirled within them. They wished they could just tell their mom the truth. Unfortunately, she'd probably never believe it. Plus, it'd probably be for the best if no one knew about the monsters for now.

"Hey, uh, Frisk?"

Frisk definitely didn't expect Alphys to still be awake, much less strike up a conversation with them. Still, they recovered quickly and responded. _Yes?_

"I know how you feel. It's not f-fun. Having to keep secrets from the outside world, I mean."

 _How'd you know that was bothering me?_

"I can read your thoughts and emotions, remember?" Alphys commented dryly.

 _Oh. Right._

"I've been in your situation myself. W-well, sorta. But you s-shouldn't give up hope!" Alphys' voice had obviously forced confidence to it, but the impromptu pep talk still had the intended effect.

"I can promise you now, we won't be stuck in this s-situation forever. And once we're out, you can tell the whole world the truth. That liberating feeling of having nothing more to hide is the best."

Frisk guessed that Alphys of all people would know about that.

"S-so don't worry. You won't have to lie forever. I wish I'd known that much sooner, thinking otherwise n-nearly drove me to do something... cowardly," she ended on a melancholy note.

 _I'll look forward to revealing the truth, then._

"Y-yeah... I will too."

Frisk was able to fall asleep shortly after that.

* * *

 **A/N:** Now then, I'd like to clear up some confusion. Some of you may have noticed that I've taken a really long time to write this chapter. Let me be clear: I am not abandoning this story. Au contraire; I intend to see it through to the end, unless I am somehow incapacitated from writing altogether (knock on wood). Unfortunately, real life obligations- as well as the usual procrastinating- have slowed my writing tempo down to a crawl. Nevertheless, I'm not stopping. In fact, I'm filled with... Uhh, what was that word again? "Deliberation"? No, that's not it...

So, in closing, don't worry; just be patient. See you next chapter.


	9. Collective Unconsciousness

Frisk's first thought as the world solidified around them was straightforward, simple and undeniable. _This is a dream._ That's an odd thought to have, but it was true. Frisk remembered reading about this phenomenon in an article once. What was it called, lucid dreaming?

Either way, it made Frisk much more carefree, humming a tune as they walked into school naked, pointedly ignoring the legion of Robert clones that were jeering and laughing at them (who, on closer inspection, were really just silly, undetailed caricatures of the real deal).

Their brain almost seemed to take their apathy as a challenge, trying it's darnedest to conjure up something, anything that would do so much as make them bat an eye. No such luck. Even as the floor collapsed beneath them and they plummeted into an endless pit of darkness, they showed not the slightest concern for anything.

But then, as the world began to reform itself around them, Frisk felt that something was now... off. They couldn't put their finger on it, but the dream took on an unknown quality, something they weren't familiar with. They couldn't specify what or why, but something about this felt very, very wrong.

Either way, as the world finished forming, Frisk noted that they were standing in Toriel's old house in the ruins. Although, everything seemed... smaller somehow. The last time they were here, the furniture seemed a little oversized to them, clearly scaled for the tall goat monster to use. Now, though, it seemed to be the perfect size for Frisk, and the ceiling wasn't quite as high up anymore either.

But that was of no concern to them right now. As if automatically, their feet carried them towards the entrance of the home, where they noted a small child waving at them. Not only did the child barely reach Frisk's waist, but Frisk was certain they had never seen this child before. Which was strange, because they remembered reading from that article that dreams cannot make up new faces from scratch.

The child sure seemed placid, sauntering about the house in a manner that betrayed no concern for anything whatsoever. Frisk, on the other hand, was deeply worried for the child's well-being, feeling an intense sensation of foreboding dread. Whatever danger was looming over this child, it was up to Frisk to prevent it.

Then the child began wandering toward the basement stairs. Frisk realized, no, _knew_ then, that at the bottom of those stairs, the danger that preyed for the child waited. They reached out an arm to the child's shoulder, grabbing it in attempt to stop the child, but the latter wandered on, not even slowed down by Frisk's efforts, still smiling and playing with the ribbon in their hair.

Escaping Frisk's grasp, the child walked down the stairs, drawing a small, obviously fake knife. It would not be enough, Frisk knew. The child had almost reached the bottom of the stairs, still blissfully unaware of the peril that loomed beyond. Frisk hurried down after the child. Quickly, now, maybe it wasn't too late to sav-

 **Slam!**

Frisk felt like their heart had just stopped.

The child was on the floor of the basement corridor, lying face down. Impaled between their shoulder blades stuck a massive red trident. Above the lifeless body, a little, fragile-looking cyan soul hovered.

Too late.

The child, their soul, and the weapon that killed them disappeared into thin air before their eyes. Utterly crushed, Frisk turned and headed back up the stairs, step by heavy step.

They didn't have much time to wallow in their despair.

Through the doorway burst another child, this one wearing a bandanna and gloves. Before Frisk could even raise a hand, the child had rushed past them, down the stairs.

 **Slam!**

Frisk didn't need to look to know that the child was now dead.

Another one ran past. And another one. And another. Slam, slam, slam. None of them even acknowledged Frisk's pleading, begging, beseeching them to stop and listen to reason. Another one brushed past, this one wearing a cowboy hat. Frisk couldn't even muster the willpower to try. Slam. Dead. Nobody was left to see Frisk cry.

Frisk heard small footsteps approaching from behind. No. No, no. Not another one. Balling a furry hand into a fist, they resolved that this one would not share the same fate. They could save at least one child. Brushing off their tears with the sleeve of their robe, they stood up, took a deep breath, and turned to face the child.

* * *

Frisk found themselves in the skeleton brothers' old house in Snowdin. Today was the day, they could feel it. This was the day they had been waiting for! ...What had they been waiting for? They didn't remember, but boy, were they excited for it.

Sans sure didn't seem as excited, though. His expression was as unreadable as always, but Frisk had been around the skeletal comedian long enough to know that something was bothering him, and that something had been bothering him for a while now. And knowing Sans, he wasn't going to spill the beans easily.

Frisk asked what was wrong. Sans mumbled an answer. The words were clouded and they couldn't make out everything he said, but the way he shrugged and the way his sockets would shift to form that faux-jovial smirk told Frisk that he was avoiding the question entirely. He probably thought they were oblivious to the true emotions swirling behind that affable mask. Not so. And it was about time Sans told the truth.

Frisk crouched down to get to eye level with the shorter skeleton and rested a gloved hand on his shoulder, asking him again, as sincerely as possible, what was the matter with him. Sans averted his gaze and didn't reply right away, which worried Frisk most of all.

Sans gave a not-an-answer that went along the lines of "nothing's wrong", then moved towards the kitchen. Frisk sighed, wondering why he couldn't be honest with them for once. They walked after him, but once they rounded the corner, they found Sans was gone. He had taken another one of his shortcuts.

Frisk ran outside as fast as their bony legs could carry them. They already knew where he was. Running to the back of the house, they tried the door to the toolshed they kept there. Sans would hole up in there every so often. They could hear very faint sobbing, but the door was locked.

* * *

Frisk was lying face-down on the floor of Waterfall's caverns, feeling like Hell. In the distance, in the direction of Hotland, they could hear screams ringing out. Stretching a gauntlet out to pull themselves up, they found they couldn't move their legs, much less stand on them. Looking back, the reason for this was obvious; their legs had molten almost entirely and were little more than a nauseating puddle on the ground.

But that was nothing. Frisk wasn't about to let such an insignificant setback withhold them from performing their duty. Clawing forward with their arms, they dragged themselves towards the screams. Something out there was slaughtering innocent monsters left and right, and everyone was counting on them to stop whoever- _whatever_ it was. And they would drag themselves to their target if it was the last thing they dd.

Despite their best efforts, they were still moving at a snail's pace. Heh, a snail's pace... A fitting analogy, giving the disgusting, slimy trail they were tracking everywhere. But they had to keep moving. They had to save everyone, because if they didn't, nobody would. Finally, they had reached the entrance of-

Hot! Too hot!

The telltale sweltering heat of Hotland blasted Frisk in the face. But still, they dragged themselves forth, even as their body felt heavier by the passing second. It wasn't that they were actually getting heavier, no, far from it. In fact, they were losing weight rapidly. Had they really gotten so weak already? No, they had to protect everyone, they had to, they...

Frisk reached out a molten appendage that used to be their arm, but could no longer grip the hot stone to drag themselves forward. Their senses began fading. They had failed, hadn't they...? Pointing a single, still functioning claw towards the lab, Frisk knew that not all hope was lost, at least. They had failed in their duty, but she wouldn't. She would evacuate everyone. That thought was the only comfort they had.

* * *

Frisk stood in the lab, holding their head in their clawed hands. Their life was falling apart before their eyes. Not only had Mettaton severed all contact with them, leaving them to fend for themselves, but now Asgore had been pressured by several monsters to find out what happened to their relatives. One thing had let to another, and now everyone knew of the horrible experiments that took place beneath this lab, and the terrible end result.

They were out of a job now. But that wasn't the worst part.

They would be endlessly hounded by the bitter family members, demanding them to undo mistakes that cannot be undone. But that wasn't the worst part either.

The worst part was what they were experiencing now. They couldn't even look Undyne in the eye, that look of contempt was too much for them to handle. And that fact only seemed to disgust Undyne even more. Not only were they a fraud as a scientist and an overall horrible person, but they weren't even able to face that truth, instead pathetically cowering under the sleeves of their lab coat.

They only had themselves to blame. They had allowed Undyne to warm up to them, knowing full well that nobody could possibly love them for how they really were, and that one day the truth would come out. Now that it had come out, it was time they paid for their sins, and it was all too much to bear. For lack of any better defense, they collapsed into a ball and began hyperventilating.

* * *

Frisk stood in an opulent yet strangely bleak hallway. There wasn't much to look at here, but the walls and floor sure had a fancy appearance. And then there were of course the stained glass windows that lined one side of the hall, through which sunlight currently shone forth.

Sunlight. Asgore's castle was so close to the surface, fresh sunlight could shine through the barrier and into the otherwise permanently dusky caverns. Something so commonplace had become a true luxury.

Frisk stood in the light for a while, basking in it's warmth. It truly was a beautiful day outside.

Inside, however, today had been a living hell. And now, Frisk had a grim duty to attend to. They had wished it wouldn't come to this. Alas. It did come to this. It was almost time for judgment.

Hollow footsteps rung down the hallway. By this point, the number of people in the Underground who could even produce footsteps anymore was depressingly low.

And there it was. That... _thing_. Frisk couldn't make out any details beyond a silhouette due to the stark contrast between the sunlight they were standing in and the shadows it stalked. But they knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt. This was the thing that killed everyone they knew and loved with it's own two hands. The dust that scattered off of it's shambling form with every step betrayed that much.

Frisk took their bony hands out of their pockets and prepared to-

* * *

No, no, no, this was all wrong. These weren't Frisk's own thoughts. They were still dreaming, but the dreams- no, _nightmares_ weren't theirs. Frisk pondered how they should try to untangle their thoughts from the others.

But as they were considering their options, Frisk came to a realization. They concluded that this tangled state might not be a bad thing. Because now... they could help everyone else face their inner demons.

The idea of saving everyone from their nightly torment... It filled Frisk with determination. And with that determination, they reformed the dreamworld around them, allowing them passage to where they needed to go.

There. Toriel's house. Frisk stepped into the abode. Toriel was there, defensively blocking the stairs to the basement, a stony expression on their face.

It didn't matter to Frisk. They didn't need to go down there, not anymore. That was all in the past. All they needed to do now was communicate to Toriel that everything was alright. They weren't going to leave her, they weren't going to die.

So they walked up to the goat lady, ignoring her warnings to stay away. When they were just within arm's reach, they raised both hands to her in a gesture that could only mean one thing.

It didn't take long for Toriel to get the hint, after which her rigorous frown wavered. She crouched down and accepted Frisk's hug, mumbling vague apologies. Frisk simply let her.

Eventually, Toriel let go once more and stood up, smiling to convey that she was all right now. Frisk turned to leave and gestured for her to follow. Toriel didn't understand where they were going, but obeyed anyway.

With just a few steps, Frisk and Toriel were now standing in Snowdin, just outside Papyrus and Sans' house. Papyrus had just managed to goad his brother out of the back shed. Frisk could tell at a glance that this wasn't actually Sans; rather, it was how Papyrus' mind perceived and reproduced Sans' appearance and behavior. A close facsimile of the real deal, but still just a figment of imagination.

They kept that revelation off their face, though. The two hadn't noticed their arrival yet, so they observed from a distance. Papyrus seemed to be asking his brother something, but the latter was alternating between giving Papyrus the cold shoulder or attempting to distract him with half-hearted puns, which only distressed Papyrus further.

 _This is going to go badly,_ Frisk realized. Papyrus was desperate to learn what was eating away at Sans, but there was no way Sans- especially not this dream replica of him- was going to spill the beans. Maybe a distraction would work...

Frisk ran towards the bickering skeletons. Papyrus, noticing his human friend's presence at last, snapped out of his argument and greeted them cheerfully, forgetting his sorrows instantly.

Dream-Sans looked at them with apprehension. Frisk knew they had to warm up to him somehow, or Papyrus would start fretting about him again. So they extended a hand to the phantasm, and it responded in kind.

The whoopee farting noise was entirely unsurprising, but Frisk still found it funny, and they smiled to convey that. The mere fact that they were capable of appreciating his humor seemed to put not-really-Sans at ease, which in turn appeased Papyrus.

Gesturing towards the taller skeleton to lead the way, Papyrus sped off, with Toriel hurrying after him. Frisk exchanged a wave with Dream-Sans as he faded from existence, then hurried after their companions.

In no time at all, they reached the tunnel that connected Waterfall's caverns with Hotland. The gooey trail on the ground looked bad, but Frisk didn't try to think about the implications.

And then they found Undyne.

Frisk's stomach did a full somersault. They had experienced this in person earlier, but seeing just how bad it looked from an outside perspective was somehow even worse. Undyne's body had lost it's form almost entirely, lying in a large puddle on the floor. Only her head was still recognizable, but even then you'd have to look closely.

Toriel and Papyrus were equally distraught, but reacted quickly. Papyrus hurried over and tried to keep what was left of her stable, while Toriel did her best to apply healing magic to the molten monster. Normally, such methods would be far too late to save Undyne. Luckily, this was a dream. Symbolism was much more important than logic, and Undyne's condition visibly improved.

Still, it wasn't enough. Wait, symbolism... Frisk got an idea, hurrying across the bridge leading to Hotland proper, returning moments later with a cup of water.

Under normal conditions, a mere cup of water would do naught to help Undyne now. But these weren't normal conditions. The cold water rejuvenated the fish warrior in mere moments, reforming her fallen form and granting her the strength to stand tall once more.

The fuzzy reality of the dreamworld didn't allow for clear communication, but exchanging a nod of understanding got the point across. _Let's go._

Bursting into the lab, Undyne hesitated for a moment when she saw a more nightmarish version of herself standing there... Then snapped out of it when she noted the thing was tormenting Alphys, who was on the floor in a pool of her own tears. Storming towards the scene, Undyne rammed into her look-alike, and then with one swift motion grappled the creature around the waist and suplexed it, knocking it out cold.

Undyne gave her doppelganger's fallen form a quick once-over, then shuddered and turned to Alphys, who was looking up at her in a mixture of surprise and relief. Undyne raised a questioning eyebrow, as if to ask, "Is that really what I look like to you?!"

Frisk initiated a group hug with Alphys and Undyne, soon joined by Papyrus and Toriel, quickly evaporating any remaining doubts and fears the scientist still had about how others viewed her.

Now feeling confident, Frisk lead the way towards the final stop on their journey through dreamland. With a single step, they were now all standing in the hallway with the stained glass, slightly behind Sans' back. He didn't seem to notice their presence at first, as he was too busy staring intently at a certain... someone, who was obscured from proper view by the shadows.

Frisk laid a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch and recoil back, but Frisk's smile soon made him relax. Then he noticed that everyone else was there too, standing behind him in support. They were all alive and well, and braced to help him face his problems, whatever they were.

Frisk had never seen Sans so... expressive. He always looked like he was smiling, but only now did it look so genuine. He looked so relieved, so... happy. It warmed Frisk's heart. This was what they were hoping for. Maybe now, he understood that it was okay to rely on others, and he would open up to them more.

Sans' opponent was still approaching, however. Stepping into the sunlight, Frisk could and the others could finally see who it was.

Frisk. Another Frisk stood there, gleaming knife in hand, dust-covered shirt, smiling innocently.

Frisk felt like they were going to vomit. They clutched their head, losing their vision to sudden dizziness and tumbling over backwards.

Yet they did not hit the ground. When they regained sight, they saw everybody was now staring at them from across the hallway with various looks of fear and contempt. Frisk couldn't move their body, but felt that their left hand was clutching something.

Memories that they had long buried were resurfacing. As Frisk remembered the sins they had tried their best to undo and atone for, their left hand slowly raised on it's own accord and pointed the knife it held towards Toriel. The knife made a slashing motion in the air, and suddenly wounds and gashes started appearing over Toriel's form. The goat lady could only stare at them in agony and astonished betrayal for a few seconds before crumbling to dust.

Then the knife pointed towards Papyrus, who only cast them an aghast, pleading look but made no move. The knife chopped, and Papyrus' skull dropped off his shoulders and shattered to pieces on the tiled floor.

Undyne had summoned a spear and was charging forward, but the knife slashed again and bisected her before she had even halfway crossed the distance between them. Alphys wailed and rushed over to Undyne, but whoever was pulling the strings on Frisk's body clearly didn't perceive her as a threat.

Frisk had expected Sans to jump to action, to protect his friends and the hope that had shone in his eyes for that brief moment, but he stood still as a statue, looking at the carnage around him with hollow eyes, the little lights that served as his pupils reduced to pinpricks. Not even when Frisk automatically wandered towards him and raised the knife did he acknowledge what was about to happen.

As the knife bore down on his ribcage, Frisk was sure they heard some childlike giggling reverberating through their skull.

* * *

Frisk gasped loudly and sat up in their bed. They looked around them, finding their bearings as emotions, both their own and those of their friends, cascaded through them. Well, they had known it was all a dream. Now the dream was over. Still, the way it ended was… disconcerting. Perhaps they should talk about this.

 _Toriel? S-Sans? Hello?_

"Y-yes, my child?" Toriel's voice shakily responded.

 _You all had that dream too, didn't you?_

"I… believe so, yes."

 _Sans, are you okay? We should talk about this._

"talk? about what? it was just a bad dream, ok? nothing to worry about."

 _Sans. Papyrus has nightmares because you leave him in the dark all the time. No one can help you if you won't let them in._ Papyrus squeaked a little at the mention, but didn't interject.

"i don't need help," Sans stubbornly responded. "this isn't something i think you all should know."

 _Well, if you won't talk, then I will,_ Frisk resolved, swallowing. This wasn't going to be easy.

"huh? you'll do what?"

 _You see... You all know me as your big hero. I managed to not only survive the Underground, but also free monsterkind from it's captivity, all without laying a finger on anyone. That's the story._ Frisk sharply inhaled. _But that's not entirely true._

"frisk, no, you shouldn't tell them this. it won't solve anything," Sans argued. Normally his voice betrayed no concern about anything, but not now.

 _I can't keep this awful truth to myself any longer. Maybe you'll all hate me once you know, but that's something I'll just have to live with._

 _Because you see, once upon a time, I wasn't a hero at all. Quite the opposite._

"W… What are you saying?" Undyne cautiously asked, obviously already not liking where this was going.

 _What I'm saying is, I once killed all of the monsters. Me. I ended so many lives with my own two hands._

"You?! Kill everyone? Fuhuhu, d-don't make me laugh!" Undyne tried to sound confident, but... "You're about as goody-goody as they get! I can't see you killing anyone, no way!"

 _True, I have sworn to never take a life for as long as I can help it. But I wasn't always like that._

"F-Frisk... Is this all true?" Toriel asked, voice dripping with disbelief.

 _I wish I was joking. But yes. My memory of then is vague at best, but I remember clearly that there was a voice guiding me. Pick that up, kill that person. Now kill everyone you find. Keep hunting for survivors. And I did exactly as it told me to do, not questioning once why that was necessary. Turns out, it wasn't._

Alphys piped up. "B-but, if you really did kill us, then why are we alive now?"

Frisk sighed. _I don't really remember how I did it anymore. But I found a way to undo all my mistakes. Everything_ _went_ _back to how it was before I arrived in the Underground, everyone's memories back to zero. All so I could try again. I vowed never to kill again._

 _Well, I say everyone's memories, but that's not true. At least one person remembers._

"AND THAT PERSON... IS MY LAZY, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BROTHER?" Papyrus wasn't sure what he expected Sans' big secret was, but it certainly wasn't this.

 _Lazy?_ Frisk stifled a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. _Not really. My antics have just broken his will. He thinks I'm a horrible killer and he's not wrong. I tried very hard to atone for what I've done, to make it up to all of you. But I can't blame him if he hates me._

"frisk... no. no, i don't hate you," Sans interjected.

 _What?_

"it's true. you did horrible things, i'll make no _bones_ about that." Nobody even acknowledged the pun. "but the very fact that we're here... tells me you can't be all bad. and that's enough for me to give you a second chance. so no, you didn't 'break my will', as you put it. i'm made of tougher stuff than that."

 _Oh._ Frisk wasn't expecting that answer. _What about the rest of you? Can you still call me your friend, knowing what I've done?_

"Oh, Frisk..." Toriel sighed. "I can't deny that I was not expecting this from you. It's going to take a while for that to sink in. But still, in a way... Your resolve to better yourself is very impressive by itself. I actually feel rather proud of you."

"NYEH HEH HEH! I KNEW I WAS RIGHT! ANYBODY CAN BE A GOOD PERSON IF THEY REALLY TRY! EVEN MURDER-Y PEOPLE CAN DO BETTER!" Papyrus reaffirmed his own philosophies. "TELL ME, FRISK! DID MY WISE COUNSELING COMPEL YOU TO UNKILL EVERYONE?"

 _Heh. Sure, Papyrus. In a way, you did save everyone without even knowing it._

Papyrus didn't audibly respond, but Frisk could just tell he was beaming.

"Hmph. Can't promise that I'm just gonna take learning that I'm friends with an ex-serial killer lying down," Undyne bitterly commented. "But... I guess I had my own misconceptions about humans before. I suppose it's not too late for a second chance, for any of us," she concluded, sighing.

 _Huh..._ Frisk expected distrust or contempt, but forgiveness? _Th-thanks guys. I can't even put into words how much that means to me._

"W-wait, Frisk, you said that there was a "voice" telling you what to do?" Alphys inquired.

 _Yes... I didn't really think about it much at the time. But that voice appeared in my head when I first came to the Underground, promised me that they would guide me through the Underground safely, that I would die if I didn't listen. I was so scared, so I just listened to it's commands. That was so stupid of me..._

"That's... worrisome. What if the o-owner of this voice resurfaces?" Alphys speculated.

"Then I'll give 'em a triple suplex for making Frisk kill us, that's what!" Undyne boasted.

"AND THEN I'LL ASK IT TO APOLOGIZE! AND THEN I'LL SHOW IT HOW TO BE A GOOD AND COOL PERSON! AND THEN WE'LL ALL HAVE SPAGHETTI AND BE HAPPY. THE END."

"heh heh. not sure if they'll work, bro, but it's worth a shot."

Despite the fact that they'd just been sleeping, Frisk felt drained by the night's activities. _Well then, I guess we'd better_ _rest_ _on this. Good night, everyone._

Frisk fell asleep not long after that, followed by the monsters, one after the other. Sans was the last one awake.

"...i know you're still there. you can't hide from me. you were frisk's little guide, weren't you?"

No response came.

"fine, be like that. but i've got my eye on you. so to speak, heh."

* * *

 **A/N:** Lengthy dream sequence, huh? Nearly went full Psychonauts there. Hope you enjoyed.


	10. Luminescent Hope

_Ugh._ Frisk was not in the mood for school today. No doubt, the revelation that Frisk's arm wasn't broken after all wasn't going to make them any more popular. Their social standing in school was already low, but being known as a liar was most likely going to kill what little sympathy they sometimes received.

"hey, chin up, sport. don't they always say learning is fun?" Sans commented.

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, SANS!" Papyrus piped up. "YOU'RE CONSTANTLY SLEEPING IN AND SLACKING OFF! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO LEARN ANYTHING LIKE THAT?!"

"hush now. how can i set a good example if you go around telling everyone my secrets?"

"YOUR SLOTH HAS TO BE THE WORST KEPT SECRET OF ALL TIME."

Even Sans and Papyrus' antics couldn't cheer Frisk up. They let out a resigned sigh and kept on walking, making an effort not to interfere with the pair's bickering.

"Hey, Frisk..." Toriel softly prompted.

 _Hmm?_

"How about, after school today, we try to teach you some magic?" There was some hesitation in the proposal, as if she wasn't sure if it was such a good idea.

 _R-really?!_ Frisk's mood instantly perked up. Learning actual magic certainly was a reason to get excited. Good idea or not, if Toriel gave her word, she would keep it, Frisk knew. They could barely contain their glee.

"Yes. However..." Ah, there's always a catch, isn't there? "You'll have to promise me you'll do your best at school today."

 _All right, all right, fine. I'll do my best._ Good old Toriel, up to her sly mothering techniques again.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea, Toriel?" Alphys asked.

"Frisk has shown to be a very responsible child. Monster children usually begin learning magic at their age, so I do not see why that should be different for humans. Besides, perhaps this will help us figure something out."

"But what if something goes wrong, o-or somebody sees us, or..."

"Aww, don't be such a stick in the mud, Alph!" Undyne interjected. Alphys let out a quiet "eep"; her propensity to side with Undyne on all matters was clashing with her natural worrying. "Come on, the kid's excited about this, and so am I. Teaching Frisk all about magic is gonna rock!"

Undyne's enthusiasm reverberated through Frisk's mind and mixed with their own. They happily picked up the pace as they walked. Almost cracking a smile, they rounded the corner to school...

...Only to bump face-first into an unpleasant figure and nearly falling over backwards. There stood Robert, obviously having been waiting Frisk up and glaring holes into them.

"Oh, hullo. In a hurry to get to school? That's surprising, seeing how eager you were to skip out the other day," he sneered.

"Leave me alone, Robert." Frisk tried to brush past him, but Robert wasn't budging.

"Listen." His gaze softened a bit, and he crouched slightly to get on Frisk's eye level. "When I heard your arm was broken, I felt kinda bad. I realized that I might have gone too far back there."

Frisk was a little taken aback by this sincere confession. Before they could comment, Robert continued.

"But then... I heard through the grapevine that you were fine. That you faked your injury." Robert's eyes narrowed, the venomous look returning, as he leaned in closer to Frisk, standing almost nose-to-nose. "I realized then that you were just trying to get me to feel sorry for you so I'd leave you alone. But I don't think you deserve that, not after trying to guilt-trip me, you lying little runt. Now I'm starting to think I didn't go far enough. It's about time you learned your place here."

Finally, Robert stepped aside. Frisk hastily rushed past him and continued on their way. "You'd better watch out! I'm not through with you!" Robert shouted after them.

"Ugh. Can't that punk just leave us alone? Didn't he learn his lesson yet?" Undyne complained.

 _Apparently not, Undyne. Apparently not._

* * *

"Uwwwwahhhh! Goooooood morning... uh, Underground...? Hey, where am I?"

Frisk jumped when a quiet yet very confident voice suddenly spoke up in the middle of math class. They didn't immediately recognize the voice, even though it seemed familiar to them somehow.

 _Uh... Well, I'm Frisk. Who're you?_

"...Frisk? Don't you remember me, darling? Why, I can hardly imagine you'd forget someone like moi!"

 _...Mettaton?_

"The one and only!"

The pieces finally fell together for Frisk. This was just Mettaton's soul. Without his robot body, his voice lacked it's usual bombastic presence. _Well, welcome to the club, I guess._

"Thank you, but... what kind of club are we talking here? Wait, is this... **m** **ath**?!" Mettaton scoffed dramatically... That is, dramatically, even compared to his usual self. "Now there's something with no flair. That's sleep-inducing stuff only eggheads like Alphys can be bothered with. Why would you discuss something so boring? And then there's these ugly featureless desks! What is this, a school?"

 _Correct._

"...Huh?"

"W-we are in school. Frisk's school, to be exact," Alphys clarified. If she minded Mettaton talking so disparagingly about her, she didn't show any signs of it. Frisk felt a small blaze of silent displeasure emanating from Undyne, though.

"Well, that would explain it." Mettaton was silent for a short moment, as if contemplating something. "...So. Does anybody happen to know exactly _why_ we're here?"

Frisk suppressed a sigh, gearing up to explain the story from the top all over again. _Well-_

"Frisk!"

The teacher waved a hand in front of Frisk's eyes, who finally realized that they had been asked something. "Are you still with us?" he asked.

"Uh, yes, sir," Frisk uncertainly replied.

"Then would you mind answering the question?"

"Uhhh..."

The teacher rolled his eyes. "Never mind, then. Pay attention next time. Robert?"

"45," Robert answered, grinning. Frisk was usually smarter than him, so he relished every opportunity to one-up them in class.

"Wipe that smug smirk off your face, or I'll do it for you, you little ingrate," Undyne growled.

 _You've already punched him once, isn't that enough?_ Frisk deplored.

"Apparently not."

"Whoa, whoa, let me make sure I got this right," Mettaton cut in. "So that lout's been bugging Frisk, then... Uh, Ursula was your name?"

"It's Undyne!" came the incredulous response. She seemed quite insulted that Mettaton didn't even remember her name, considering they had met a couple times through Alphys.

"Right. So Undyne socked him one, and... now we're here, wherever this is."

 _That sounds about right._

"Maybe to you, darling. But I can't make heads or tails out of it."

"DO NOT WORRY, METTATON! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL RECOUNT OUR TALE THUS FAR IN ALL THE DETAILS YOU DESIRE!" Papyrus helpfully volunteered.

"That would be much appreciated, ah, "Great" Papyrus," Mettaton oh-so-graciously accepted.

"Metallic fop, " Undyne grumbled under her breath.

* * *

Drama class. Like the majority of students at the school, Frisk was largely apathetic about the subject. It was fun, though. Sometimes. Right now, Frisk was waiting for the teacher to show up. Rumor had it she had something planned for today.

Papyrus was just about done with his spiel, at long last. Frisk was thankful to be relieved of that task at first, but they soon came to realize that when Papyrus explains a story with all the details, that means **all** the details. His impressive memory capacity was only matched by his inability to distinguish between important events and inconsequential trivialities. Nevertheless, Mettaton listened- or, perhaps, convincingly pretended to listen- the entire way through.

"Well, class, have I got an announcement for you today!"

The drama teacher was never one to beat around the bush, grabbing the attention of the class the moment she walked in. "As we do each year, we're selecting one class to organize a school play. And this year, the lot of you are nominated!"

The class began murmuring among each other. "Oooh, a play? Looks like I showed up just in time! Frisk, you should try to secure a lead role," Mettaton eagerly suggested.

 _What? B-but I'm not good at performing..._

Mettaton made a strangled noise of indignation. "You, not good at performing?! I beg to differ! Trust me, darling, I know talent when I see it, and you've got it."

 _All right, I'll try... But only if you guide me along,_ Frisk hesitantly agreed.

"If that makes you feel better. But, considering you stole the show from yours truly in a matter of minutes back in the Underground, I think you'll do just fine."

"All right quiet down," the teacher started again. "So. Anyone got any suggestions for a play you'd like to perform?"

Dead quiet. The teacher didn't seem to be aware of the lack of theater enthusiasts among the class.

"...Come on, anyone? We don't want to just do Romeo and Juliet AGAIN, do we?"

No, the class did not. Still, nobody took the initiative.

Sans let out a loud yawn. "yo, frisk. this play looks like a snorefest in the making. maybe we should do something about it."

 _"We"? Like what? I don't know any plays either._

"i dunno. can't you just make one up?"

Frisk suppressed the urge to roll their eyes. _Oh, sure, lemme just think of an entire theater play on the spot._

"Can't be that hard, could it?" Undyne rhetorically asked.

 _Do you know how to write a play, then?_

"W-well, no, not exactly... But it still can't be that hard! Just stuff it chock-full with lots of action to keep the audience awake!" Undyne shouted.

"AND MAKE SURE IT INCLUDES LOTS OF MAKING FRIENDS! EVERYBODY LOVES FRIENDSHIP!" Papyrus hollered.

"a comic relief character or two wouldn't hurt either. people appreciate a good laugh every now and then," Sans suggested.

"I think people enjoy, uhm, s-sympathetic characters in plays? A-at least, it works like that in anime..." Alphys tried.

"Perhaps the story could have a moral or a lesson at the end? The audience often appreciates that," Toriel proposed.

"But most importantly... Drama! Flair! Presence! And you in the center of it all in the lead role! I can already see it before me... Whatever it is!" Mettaton declared.

 _It needs all of those things? How am I gonna- wait a minute..._

Inspiration struck Frisk. It was an unorthodox idea, but it might just work, and it was a story Frisk was more than familiar with... Then again, maybe they'd get ridiculed for it. Either way, the teacher looked like she was about to give up. It was now or never.

"Well, if nobody's got any ideas-"

"Wait! I, um, I may have thought of something..." Frisk timidly spoke up.

All eyes turned to Frisk. The teacher looked pleasantly surprised and curious, while the other classmates were mostly just nonplussed. Robert and his posse let out a few exasperated sighs and groans from the back of the room to let their displeasure be known, but no one paid them any mind.

"Great, well, let's hear what you've got, then," the teacher prompted.

And so Frisk began telling an epic tale. Of a child who fell down into a great chasm under a mountain. Of a buried civilization of monsters, trapped by a magical force field, trying to climb their way back to to the surface. Of chance meetings with strange beings, big and small, mean and kind. Of adventures, confrontations and dates. After a minute or so, the teacher took out a notebook and began furiously scribbling, occasionally murmuring "hmm-hmm" to signal Frisk to keep going. Frisk was in the middle of describing a scene where the protagonist meets two bickering skeleton siblings when the teacher told them to stop for now.

"Well, I don't know when or how you came up with all this, but it's certainly original. I think we can work with this. Who's in favor of using Frisk's play?"

Quite a large number of hands went up, easily a majority. Probably only because it's better than regurgitating another tired old play, but it nonetheless gave Frisk a warm feeling.

"Great. Then, could you come over to the teacher's room after school so I can write the rest down?"

Frisk nodded in approval, feeling very proud.

"Excellent. Then that's that. How about we try some improv next?"

* * *

"Hmm hmm hm hum hm-hm-hmm..."

Frisk hummed a tune as they walked back from school. The drama teacher had listened all but slack-jawed as they drummed up an entire script seemingly from scratch, repeatedly commenting that Frisk certainly had a vivid and productive imagination. Little did she know how easy it was for Frisk. Especially considering a lot of the, ah, "characters" were there with them to fill in anything they didn't quite remember. Sans had appraised their cleverness ("work smarter, not harder, eh?") before taking another long afternoon nap.

 _So, I think I did good at school today, if I do say so myself. Now, how about that promise?_

"Oh, right. I suppose so. Though, I'm beginning to worry that it might not be a good idea to practice at home," Toriel mused.

 _Why not?_

"Magic can be hard to control if you're just starting out. I would not wish to burden your mother with a lot of unexplained property damage if something goes wrong."

"But t-then, where else can we go? It probably would be for the best if nobody saw us doing, um, that..." Alphys interjected.

 _Hmmm... I have an idea._

Frisk stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse building they always passed by on the way to and from school. _This place is empty. We could practice here._

"Ahh, hmm... Now, I suppose it is a bit hypocritical of me to worry about you interacting with complete strangers, but... Are you sure that's a good idea? Who knows what kind of nasty individuals dwell in there..." Toriel warily replied.

 _Ah, don't worry. A lot of kids from my school go here to play sometimes, for lack of actual playgrounds around here. The police are aware of that and regularly check the place._

"Besides, if the kid can slip through MY fingers, I'm not worried about some lowlife cornering them!" Undyne added.

Toriel didn't seem at ease, but went ahead with it for lack of better options. "If... if you say so. It still doesn't seem safe to me, but I suppose we do not have many options. However, at the first sign of anyone else being in there, we shall leave immediately, okay?"

 _Hmm-hm,_ Frisk absent-mindedly agreed.

In no time, they found an empty storage space with plenty of room. It was a big, empty hall, with the only light coming in from windows close to the ceiling. Nobody would find them here. After making sure the place was deserted, they settled in. _So, what am I learning first?_

"Well, every monster- and every human too, I suppose- has a different form of magic that comes naturally to them. As such, I cannot tell you what to do, only how to do it," Toriel explained.

 _Uhh, okay. So I'm just going to try out spells at random and see what happens?_

"More or less. Hmm... It is a shame I cannot prepare any equipment like this. It would help make this training session go more smoothly," Toriel mused, mostly to herself. Frisk remembered how Toriel had guided them through a learning course about puzzles back in the Underground. While the amount of effort she put into her preparations was admirable, it was also a bit... stiflingly safe at times.

"Try and concentrate on a target, like that wall over there," Toriel directed Frisk's attention to the far end of the room. "When you're ready, I'll tell you the magic words. Repeat after me and it should focus your magic into a form that suits you."

 _Let's do it._

Frisk spent several long moments trying to concentrate. The problem was that they had no idea if they were doing it correctly. They decided to just try and hope for the best.

 _Ready._

"Good. Repeat after me."

...

 **"YANDOH FRELBERÉI!"** Frisk shouted at the top of their lungs, throwing one arm forward as they did.

...

Nothing happened.

 _Did I do something wrong?_ Frisk felt kind of stupid and embarrassed.

"Naww, I had that problem when I first tried as well," Undyne reassured. "Just put everything you've got in it! C'mon! NGAAAAAAH!"

Frisk breathed in sharply and tried again, and again.

 **"MEVIF WEAMMOL! AVMANIP! EÈRMOIAL BELDEMOIRAC!"**

Still nothing. Frisk's confidence began to falter as they began to question why they were standing in an old warehouse shouting random make-believe words at a wall, but Papyrus and Undyne were practically yelling at them to keep trying, with even Alphys quietly cheering them on. As Mettaton weighed in with a reassuring "You can do it, darling!", Frisk gather all their willpower and took a good, long look at their surroundings, taking in every detail. The decaying bricks, the pale light coming in from outside, the dust and old supplies that scattered every which way... It filled Frisk with determination.

 **"REIDMERAF SIALÈRDIUR!"**

And then there was light.

Frisk felt something resonating within them. A very bright flash of light suddenly appeared in front of Frisk, blinding them and nearly causing them to fall. They just about managed to lean on a nearby pillar for balance.

 _Wh-whoa... Did I do that?_ Frisk asked, still very much disoriented and dazed.

"i do believe so. congrats, kid, that's probably the first case of actual human magic in forever," Sans complimented with a yawn, having been rudely awakened from his afternoon nap.

Before Frisk could celebrate, a crashing noise in the next room over startled them. Undyne's instincts immediately took over, and Frisk felt their whole body tense up, like they were a predator spotting an interloper in their territory.

"Intruder!" Undyne hissed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey there! You thought I was gone, did you? ...Well, you'd be right if you did. I guess I sorta did just vanish for several months. Don't worry, there's a good reason for that: solid procrastination! ...And also this chapter was a struggle to write for some reason.

But now I'm back! I said I intended to finish this, and I'm not one to go back on my word without a good reason. So here's to hoping I don't run into any more speed bumps. See you next chapter!


	11. Confidant of Integrity

"All right, man, see you later."

Ben bid his friend group goodbye for today and began his path home. Now that he checked the time, he realized that he had spent more time hanging around at the schoolyard than he thought. It was late afternoon already.

Imagine his surprise when he found he wasn't the only one going home this late. Ahead of him he saw Frisk's messy mop of hair among the usual pedestrian traffic. Oh, right, they had to discuss their play with the drama teacher after school, didn't they?

Given how they were going in the same direction, Ben figured he might as well strike up a conversation with them. But as he began closing the distance between them, Frisk suddenly turned and entered the old abandoned warehouse near the school. Now, what could they be doing in there? It was a bit late to be playing around outside, especially alone.

His curiosity getting the better of him (and seeing how he didn't have anything better to do until dinner time, which wouldn't be until at least another hour), Ben decided to tail Frisk and figure out what they were up to. As he approached the warehouse's gate, he accidentally kicked an old tin can and caused some racket. He froze anxiously, briefly afraid that Frisk would turn around and notice that he was following them, but they kept on walking, apparently lost in thought. Now that he thought about it, they seemed to be aloof a lot lately. Was something troubling them?

Frisk stopped in the middle of a large storage space, having apparently found the place they were looking for. Ben peeked through the doorway to see what they were up to, then quickly ducked back outside when Frisk began looking about, as if making sure they were truly alone.

 _That was close..._ He thought to himself, breathing a deep (but quiet) sigh. Whatever Frisk was doing here, they obviously didn't want anyone seeing or hearing. Ben wasn't sure if spying on them was a very nice thing to do, but he simply had to know now.

He looked around and spotted a pile of burlap sacks in the room he was in. If he stood on top of those, he could look through those high-up windows with minimal risk of being spotted. Now that he had a goal, he began climbing up- softly, making sure no loud noises were made- until he reached the top. It was a little wobbly, but he'd manage.

Frisk was still in the middle of the room, facing a wall. They were staring at it really intently, as if expecting it to fall over. Curiouser and curiouser...

 **"YANDOH FRELBERÉI!"**

Whoa. Frisk was known as a very silent kid. Who knew they could yell that loud?

...

Well, whatever Frisk was hoping to achieve here... Nothing was happening.

 **"MEVIF WEAMMOL!"**

Not that it was going to stop them from trying again, it seems.

 **"AVMANIP!"**

 _Is... Is_ _Frisk into LARPing, or something?_ Seemed rather lonely, doing that by yourself.

 **"EÈRMOIAL BELDEMOIRAC!"**

 _...Yeah, I'm beginning to understand why Frisk doesn't want to be seen doing this,_ Ben thought to himself. It looked kind of embarrassing and a little sad. He decided to keep what he saw here to himself. It was only fair. Everyone has something they'd rather people didn't know about them, after all.

 **"REIDMERAF SIALÈRDIUR!"**

And then there was light.

Ben was about to start climbing down the pile he was on when a bright light- _too_ bright- flashed through the window. The sudden assault on his senses threw Ben off-balance; he quickly lurched forward and tried to grab onto something, but the sacks he grasped gave way as well, and soon everything came tumbling down with a loud crash.

 _Wh... What, what was that...?!_ For a few seconds, Ben just laid perfectly still where he landed, too shocked to move or think. He quickly realized that he had lost his glasses, blurring his vision.

"Who's there?!"

Before Ben could even get his bearings, Frisk burst through the doorway, looking uncharacteristically aggressive. One of their eyes was closed, the other was darting around looking for the intruder. When it finally settled on Ben, he knew he was in trouble. Frisk was normally pretty mellow, but right now they looked quite fearsome... for a kid their age.

"Uhh, hi," Ben groaned as he nursed a painful spot on the back of his head. That felt like a bruise in the making.

Frisk let out a huff. "You. What brings you here?"

"I, uhh... I saw you go in here and I was just wanted to know what you were up to."

* * *

"None of your business, punk," Undyne snarled at the boy.

 _Of all people, I wasn't expecting to see him here,_ Frisk commented.

"Okay, okay, jeez. But, uh... What was that flash of light just now all about?" Ben asked. Undyne froze, unable to think of what to do or say now.

"O-oh no..." Alphys mumbled to herself.

"whoops. busted," Sans added.

 _Ah, uhm, Undyne, let me handle this, please._

Frisk took control of their body back from Undyne and addressed Ben, who was still half-laying down on the floor. "Eheh... You saw all that, didn't you?" They sheepishly asked while offering him a hand.

"Yeah..." Ben replied offhandedly as he got up and retrieved his glasses, moving to clean them up with the hem of his shirt.

 _I don't know how we can get out of this one. What do I do?_

"You bluff your little a-...butt off, that's what!" Undyne insisted.

Frisk hesitated a moment. Easier said than done. How could they come up with a plausible explanation for this? Then they gulped and turned to Ben. "Uhm, well, I, um, how d-do I explain this..." they stammered.

"Was it magic?" Ben asked rather forwardly. It didn't sound like a guess.

"What?!" The question completely blindsided Frisk. "W-well, yes... That was my first time practicing, actually," they blurted out before they could stop themselves.

"I see," Ben mumbled, trailing off into a line of thought. Frisk wondered how he knew, and what he was thinking about.

"Ssssh! You shouldn't have told him that!" Undyne admonished.

 _I'm sorry! I answered before I even realized it!_

"Um, well, i-it should be all right, our cover still isn't blown," Alphys optimistically noted. "Just as long as h-he doesn't ask about-"

"And from where did you learn this magic?" came the next curious inquiry from Ben.

"...that," Alphys finished her sentence.

"...Um, I can't tell you that, sorry," Frisk meekly replied to the question.

"You can't, or you don't want to?"

"he's a persistent one, isn't he," Sans commented. His tone was as nonchalant as ever, but Frisk could sense a twinge of annoyance in it.

"I-it's almost like... like he knows something," Alphys guessed.

"Because... I don't want to," Frisk decided on their answer. Ben hummed at that.

"I get it. You don't know if you can trust me."

"What the heck is the deal with this kid?! What does he want from us?" Undyne complained.

Ben was studying an eroded brick in the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the universe. Frisk realized at that moment that his tone wasn't suspicious or interrogative. He seemed to be just as uneasy about this situation as they were. "Well, you see, I think I know what it is you're trying to hide, and... Well, you just tell me if I'm correct, okay?" Ben said, not quite looking Frisk in the eye.

"Oookay..." Frisk reluctantly agreed. Not that there was much room for disagreeing.

 _There's no way he's onto us, right?_

"Th-that's got to be impossible," Alphys declared.

Ben took a gulp of breath, as if anticipating the answer he was going to get. "Did you learn it from... monsters?"

 _H-huh?!_

Without even thinking, Alphys took over Frisk's body and addressed Ben directly. "H-h-how could you possibly know tha-that?! That's, that's just... that's just not possible!" she warbled, eyes full of disbelief.

"I'm assuming that means I'm correct?" Ben hesitantly asked.

"Urk!" Alphys realized too late that she's spilled the beans. Undyne could be heard grumbling something about how she "can't BELIEVE you guys, with your big mouths..."

"Ahhh... Well, I-I guess there's n-no more point denying it, huh..." Alphys sadly noted. "Yes, you are correct. My name is Alphys. I used to be the royal scientist for the Kingdom of Monsters. Through some series of events that we're still trying to figure out, me and a few of my friends somehow wound up i-inhabiting Frisk's mind with them. B-but we're not dangerous or anything like that!" She hastily added.

"Oh, uhm, I see." Perhaps this wasn't quite the answer Ben was expecting. He then nodded to himself. "That would explain Frisk's weird behavior lately."

Papyrus took over from Alphys at that moment. "Oh, but Frisk is plenty weird on their own! Did you know that they think crossword is harder than junior jumble?! That doesn't even make sense!" he yelled.

"...Crossword _is_ harder than junior jumble, though," Ben countered, a little taken aback by the sudden change in tone (and decibels).

Papyrus frowned at that. "Well, never mind then. I guess humans are just weird in general."

Toriel requested to speak with the boy directly, and Papyrus relinquished control to her. "Greetings, my child. I am Toriel. I noticed from your tone of voice that you are distrustful of us. Please, do not be afraid. We mean no harm. Frisk is a good friend of ours. We have tried to respect their wishes as much as possible during our stay here," she assured him.

"Oh-kay..." Ben spoke slowly, lost deep in thought. "Anyone else in there?"

Toriel passed the torch to Sans. "Heya, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. That loudmouth earlier was my brother Papyrus." He winked, ignoring his brother's protests. "I believe we already met once. Did you like my joke about Napoleon Bone-apart?"

Ben's eyes widened with realization. "That was you?!"

"Yup. Surprise."

Ben just blinked once, at a loss for words.

Frisk took command of their body back. "So, uhm... I take it you're convinced?"

"...Who's asking?" Ben suspiciously replied.

"Ah, uh, just me, Frisk."

"Can I... see that magic from earlier again?"

Frisk nodded. Focusing once more, they attempted to gather magical energy from their surroundings before repeating every exact movement that previously led to success. The chance to prove their newly-earned worth in the field of magic... it filled Frisk with determination.

 **"REIDMERAF SIALÈRDIUR!"**

Frisk was prepared for the resulting flash of light this time... But it was still really, really bright. Casting magic was weird. It was like seeing colors for the first time after having previously been colorblind... And yet different from that, still. It was an indescribable sensation. The fact that no words exist to define it was a sure sign that Frisk really was the first human to do this in a very long time. "Very good technique for a beginner, Frisk. You are a natural," Toriel complimented.

"Whoa... Yeah, that's something else, all right," Ben mumbled, rubbing his closed eyelids for a few seconds.

"If you'd like, you can watch while I practice in the future."

"That sounds cool..." Ben took the offer.

"Yes. But! One simple favor in return." Frisk's voice had gotten a lot lower pitch and a little more... velvety. Ben guessed another monster had taken control. "You see, my name's Mettaton, and I'm monsterkind's biggest star. I aim to represent monsters on the big screen when the time comes for us to reveal ourselves to humanity... but it's not time for our debut performance yet."

Frisk, or rather, Mettaton, walked over to Ben and leaned on his shoulder, rather blatantly invading his personal space. Frisk was glowing with embarrassment, but Mettaton didn't care. "So if you could be so kind as to keep mum about our existence until we're ready to go, then that would be much appreciated, honey. I'll even give you an autograph as a reward."

"...Yeah, sure..." Ben leaned away, clearly not comfortable. As a result, his agreement didn't sound very convincing. He flinched when Frisk's facial expression transformed again suddenly.

"And I'm Undyne. And if you DO talk to anyone about us, then I'll have an "autograph" for you too. Where do you want it?" The threat wasn't exactly subtle, especially not with "Frisk"'s face mere inches from Ben's own.

Luckily for him, Frisk backed away a moment later, their face reverting back to it's usual neutral expression. "Uhh, sorry about that. Undyne is a little distrustful of humans she doesn't know. Which is to say, all of them except me. Heh heh." They sheepishly scratched the back of their head. "Don't worry about it, she's really nice once you get to know her."

"I-I believe you..." Ben weakly reassured. "I'm sorry, this is all so much to take in." He leaned against the back wall, adjusting his glasses.

"Well, I've spilled the beans... So how did _you_ know about the monsters?" Frisk wanted to know.

"Ah! Uh, uhm..." Ben looked like he had a split-second panic attack, then readjusted himself. "Well... I... I'm not ready to talk about that. Not yet. It's... very personal." He scratched the back of his head. "Don't worry, I'll tell you sometime soon, but... Gimme a while to mull over all this, okay?"

Frisk looked at him with a face of distrust. Here they were, exposing all their secrets, and he wasn't willing to follow suit. Still, they were willing to give Ben the benefit of the doubt. He wasn't one to lie or go back on his word. At least, that's the impression they got from their limited interactions with him so far. All they could do now was hope he could be trusted. "Fine, then."

"Well, I'll be heading home, then," Ben awkwardly mumbled.

"Okay. See ya."

As Ben turned to leave, Frisk and the monsters conversed among themselves whether they trusted Ben or not. Undyne's opinion was a resounding "No", of course, but there really wasn't anything they could do about it at this juncture. On the other end of the spectrum, Papyrus firmly believed in innocence until proven otherwise, and thus assumed Ben would keep his word as promised. Everyone else fell in-between those two extremes.

"Oh, and Frisk?" Ben stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful around those monsters. They're more dangerous than you seem to realize." And with that, he headed for the exit.

"Mind your own business!" Undyne growled, but not out loud for him to hear.

But as Ben walked through the doorway, Frisk noticed a small spot of out-of-place color around his chest area. It moved straight through him as if it wasn't even corporeal, yet still followed his movements somewhat. Looking closer, they recognized the shape of a human soul, pulsing cobalt blue with integrity.

* * *

 **A/N:** Had to rewrite this chapter a couple times, just wasn't happy with it. The end result is a bit cobbled together from all previous versions. Hope that didn't mess up the flow.


	12. Practice And Rehearsal

Weeks flew by in a blur. Frisk spent their days going to school while the monsters got more and more restless from their lack of agency over their fate. Being a stowaway in someone else's mindscape got very bothersome after a while. As for the owner of said mindscape, Frisk had gotten used to the sensation of never quite being alone by now, but it still caused a lot of stress. The monsters had collectively agreed to not speak unless it's absolutely necessary to free up some more daily peace and quiet for Frisk, but considering speaking is one of the few things they **can** do these days, that was quite difficult. One can only stave off boredom for so long.

Being able to see people's souls was interesting, of course, but not half as useful as it sounds. Frisk's mom had a blue soul, just like Ben's, which stood for integrity. A couple kids in class had green ones, which meant kindness, some were cyan for patience… Learning the color of someone's soul was less of an amazing revelation and more of an "Oh, huh, cool beans" moment. Unfortunately, Frisk couldn't see their own soul, or any other souls they might be carrying with them. Alphys explained that this is normal, as being able to perceive your own soul would be like tasting your own tongue. Only in a battle of magical nature would one's soul pop out for all to see… And even then, only human souls do that.

Of course, Frisk practiced their magic multiple times a week, almost every school day. Ben would tag along to watch half the time, although he never spoke much. He would just stare off into space with that aloof gaze of his, his thoughts wandering, the perpetual furrowing of his brow betraying that some inner conflict was playing out in his mind and that it wasn't going to resolve itself any time soon. It spooked Frisk. They had always considered themself "weird", the odd one out, the stranger, the kid nobody understood. Conversely, Ben had always seemed the very epitome of normalcy: standard haircut, usual characteristics, ordinary interests, typical friends, average grades. Learning that he knew about monsters, with no further explanation provided, shattered that mental picture. Now he was a mystery, an unknown. And unknowns were threatening.

Frisk's magic, meanwhile, hadn't really gone anywhere despite all that practice. So far, their skill in the arcane field of thaumaturgy was still limited to just creating those flashes of light. Frisk was quite frustrated that their phenomenal cosmic power apparently only added up to being the world's shortest lighthouse, which was a far cry from conjuring bones or weapons or fireballs out of thin air. Toriel explained that this was normal, that in fact most monsters require several months of practice to be able to do even this much, that it was already amazing they'd managed to get this far on their first day. It was only a matter of time until their magic would shape itself into a more useful form, she would tell them. It offered little consolation, but Frisk wasn't about to give up anyway.

At least Frisk's performance at school had improved by bounds and leaps in those weeks. This was mostly because Toriel was there with them at all times to help explain anything they would like to know. She had nothing better to do anyway, after all. Of course, she refused to help Frisk during tests, much to their chagrin and begrudging understanding.

Papyrus' supply of questions about human society was finally beginning to run dry, for which Frisk was very thankful. The flip side to this, of course, was that he was now just as bored as Undyne. All he had to do these days was periodically ask everyone for any new developments and if there was anything he could do to help, and the answers were all too often "nothing" and "no, thanks".

Sans somehow got even lazier, which astounded Papyrus as he had considered that physically impossible. He now slept for almost the entire day, only waking up if he sensed an interesting development in Frisk's mind (which was unfortunately almost never). Usually he finally yawned loudly to signal he was awake just as Frisk was about to go to bed before jovially commenting that it was apparently bedtime already and wishing everyone good-night, and that was all anyone heard from him. His sleeping schedule could make koalas seem restless by It depressed Papyrus how his brother was spiralling even further into sloth, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

Undyne staved off boredom by constantly challenging herself with things she could do in Frisk's too-heavy-for-her body. The other day she managed to jog all the way from home to school, although it did wear her out. To Frisk, it was like their body was on autopilot, a very freaky and yet oddly relaxing feeling. But not too relaxing, as they had to pay attention to where Undyne was steering them. Having lived underground all her life, the hot-blooded warrior had very limited understanding of automobiles and traffic rules. Frisk had to clarify that traffic lights were like the lasers in Hotland: one color meant "stop", another meant "go". Except they were red instead of blue and green instead of orange. The similarity between orange and red didn't help.

Mettaton was trying his very hardest to be a handful and a half to deal with. He seemed to consider Frisk's head to be like one of his hotels, as he made outrageous demands while he was staying in it, such as at least an hour per day dedicated to admiring himself and posing in front of a mirror... Even though it wasn't actually himself staring back at him in the reflection, but an increasingly embarrassed and frustrated Frisk. He didn't mean it badly, though. A few days ago, when the monsters thought Frisk was already asleep, Toriel confronted him on it, demanding that he would stop pushing them around. Mettaton responded that he wasn't actually doing this out of selfishness, but that he was trying to teach Frisk by example how to be a confident performer. He explained that this was how he mustered up the courage to go on stage the first time. "One needs to get over the embarrassment of being stared at first to avoid clamming up in front of the audience," he had stated. Frisk thought it was sweet of him to try and inspire them, but he could have gone about it in less of a roundabout way.

Alphys had been paying close attention to Frisk casting magic. She had come to the conclusion that human magic actually works a bit different from that of monsters. Whereas monsters have great energy reserves, since their bodies are made of materialized magic, humans have very little to none. However, they possess the incredible ability to vacuum up magical energy out of their environment and use it immediately. Monsters, meanwhile, have to recuperate lost reserves over several hours, sometimes days if they really exert themselves. This meant that, theoretically, a human magician would have much greater endurance than a monster, only needing to stop when they get physically tired or if the environment itself runs out of power. There was also a drawback to this, however: this ability depended on high concentrations of DETERMINATION in the caster's soul. Therefore, human magic would require extensive focus and willpower on the caster's part; any form of doubt, nervousness or distraction could disrupt the energy flow. A clear mind was of utmost importance.

All of this was interesting, of course, but it didn't exactly help them any further. Once again at a dead end, they were once more forced to just wait and see what develops.

* * *

"No, no! Much too weak! Where's your passion? You really gotta shout as loud as you can! Now come on, let me hear you yell! NNNNNGGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"N-ngaaaaah...!"

Frisk's play was coming along swimmingly. If nothing else, it made drama class much more fun. For them, at least. When the time came to hand out the roles of the various characters, a girl by the name of Alicia had boldly volunteered for the part of the hot-blooded captain of the royal guard. After that, each kid was told to independently rehearse their lines for a while. Unfortunately for the poor lass, she wasn't as confident as the real deal. Right now, Undyne-as-Frisk was giving her a pep talk, which was turning out to be more intimidating than encouraging.

"Look... Try to immerse yourself in my- uh, this character's position a little. The people look up to you as a hero! And they're all counting on you to save the day, like those warrior princesses of yore!"

Frisk didn't have the heart to tell her the truth about her perception of "human history" yet. They were starting to think they really should have told her by now.

"I, I'll try, Frisk..." Alicia stuttered out.

"Shush!" Undyne interrupted, raising one of Frisk's fingers to their lips. "Can you feel that? The feeling of everyone's hearts beating as one?! Now take that feeling... and express it with your voice! C'mon! NGAAAAAAAHHH!"

"NGAAAaaaahhh...!"

"Good, good, getting better, keep practicing!" Undyne seemed satisfied for now.

"My throat's getting sore," Alicia complained beneath her breath.

Undyne whipped around. "What was that?!"

"N-nothing," came the hurried response.

With that, Undyne finally handed control back to Frisk, who took a moment to wiggle their fingers and adjust to the bizarre feeling that usually resulted from one of the monsters controlling their body for longer than a minute. It was like the feeling Frisk would get when their foot had fallen asleep, but over their whole body. A couple times, the change had been so sudden that their legs gave way for a moment, causing them to drop to the floor. Their knees and palms had a number of scrapes on them.

Their "turn" controlling their body didn't last very long. As soon as they turned around, they spotted Simon quietly rehearsing his role as the robotic television show host/human killing machine in the corner. That, of course, was Mettaton's cue to step in.

"Sweetie, how's it going with your performance?" Mettaton rhetorically asked as he approached the boy. He could see perfectly well how it was going.

 _...Mettaton, could you please not use words like "sweetie" to address my classmates?_ Frisk's consciousness was positively aglow with embarrassment.

"No promises, it's a habit of mine. And I don't consider it a bad one," Mettaton mischievously responded inwardly. Then, outwardly, "You can't practice this role quietly mumbling to yourself in a corner somewhere, you know. You're a performer! Be the center of attention!" He demonstrated this philosophy by putting one of Frisk's feet loosely to the side and sending one arm diagonally upward and the other straight towards the ceiling in a roughly "K" shaped pose. It immediately drew some stares. Simon just gawked back.

"More drama! More action! More bloo- er, bravado!" Mettaton corrected himself, nearly getting a bit too much into the killer robot routine. "Show off everything you've got!" he pointed Frisk's index finger straight at the confused boy in an attempt to inspire him. He seemed to get the picture, finally removing himself from his corner and rehearsing his lines once more, this time loud and clear, ignoring the looks all around him and Frisk. It still lacked the presence of the real deal, but it was a considerable improvement over how he was doing two minutes ago. Eventually, the class went back to normal, and Mettaton seemed satisfied for now.

Frisk took control back and looked around at how everyone else was doing. Eric, one of the kids who usually hung around Robert, got the role of the lazy skeleton sentry and was doing a splendid job of getting into his role by not even making the effort to rehearse a little. Robert himself never volunteered for any role and thus _got_ volunteered by the teacher to play the exciting role of the cynical burger chef, which suited him just fine because he clearly hated every second of it. He already wasn't fond of drama class usually, believing it to be a giant waste of his time (which only made Frisk wonder why he picked this class to begin with, since it was not mandatory), but the fact that he was forced to participate in a play _Frisk_ wrote was most likely quite humiliating to him. Despite everything, Frisk pitied him. But not too much.

As Frisk went to help another kid with his role as the mad dummy ("Say it three times, but each time a little louder! Louder! LOUDER!"), the drama teacher watched their actions closely. Frisk clearly had a talent for this. The various characters they impersonated were so vivid, you'd swear Frisk became a different person entirely. They also seemed increasingly confident in their performance, which was remarkable considering their usual quietness.

The teacher clapped her hands. "Right, everyone! That'll do for today. Keep practicing your lines, you don't wanna embarrass yourself by forgetting. See you next week!"

As everyone made their way out of the classroom, stuffing their copies of the script into their backpacks and mumbling about this and that among each other, Frisk let out a breath of equal weariness and contentment. The teacher placed a hand on their shoulder to draw their attention. Turning around, Frisk caught a glimpse of her soul for a moment- purple, meaning perseverance- but when they blinked again, it was out of sight.

"I just wanted to commend you on your effort for this play. It's quite a pleasant surprise."

Frisk looked back up at her, then presented a small smile. It was the first time the teacher had ever seen Frisk smile. They always had this vague, unreadable expression on their face that could make a professional poker player look like an open book by comparison. Needless to say, it was a very cute smile. It made the teacher wish they'd show it more often.

"Thanks," Frisk spoke softly, before turning to leave through the door. _When you get a compliment, just smile and cash in._ They could feel Papyrus being silently aglow with pride, happy that his advice had been taken to heart.

* * *

 **A/N:** Now, some of you might be wondering, "Peasant, why do you release chapters so slowly? Are you no longer motivated to write?" Oh, but I am. A lot. So what's holding me back, then? Well, an inconveniently-timed hard drive failure halfway into the next chapter (the ONE time I forget to copy it onto an external drive), a brief case of writer's block, lots of obligations, the usual procrastination, and my life as I know it suddenly collapsing (I'll spare you the details, it's not as bad as it sounds) have resulted in what you see: I now write slower than my grandma. And she's been dead for over a decade!

...Or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy? Hell if I know.

I'll just do my best to keep this story coming along. Because, you know, my best is all I can do. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you next chapter.


	13. Your Best Friend

Two eyes sprung open in the dusky silence. There was no memory of what came before. Instinctively, they scanned their surroundings for awareness, information, threats, opportunities. Anything useful. Not much to be found, though. A dark bedroom, most likely belonging to a child, but entirely unfamiliar. No, the surrounding environment wasn't interesting. It was once the eyes settled on the self when this all got very interesting.

Five fingers, a little on the short side, covered in smooth, almost entirely hairless skin. No doubt, this hand belonged to a human child. But that would mean...

Curiosity now peaked, two legs rolled out of bed, bare feet touching the floor and going for the door, into what was probably a living room, but that was not the destination. There had to be a bathroom here... And where there's a bathroom, there's a mirror.

Found it. That face... "Frisk", was it? A name he knew he owed a lot of gratitude to. Unfortunately, he was presently not capable of feeling, much less expressing such things as gratitude. Lips parted into a gleeful grin. He wasn't quite back to being "himself", but this was close enough. It certainly beat what he had before. He wasn't sure about the what, the how or the why, but he would find out eventually and there was no hurry. What mattered to him, now, is how to have fun with this. Threats were at a minimum, opportunities were abundant.

"hullo. just felt the random compulsion to look at your own mug at stupid o'clock in the morning, huh?"

Oh no. That voice. Smiley Trashbag. He was here, too? That soured the mood considerably. "Why are YOU here?" he snapped.

"could ask the same of you. now, what was your name again?"

"I'm the Gingerbread Man, happy now? Just leave me be."

"no can do, buddy-boy. as much as i love sitting by and doing absolutely nothing, i won't let you put the kid's life in danger, if that's what you're planning."

"Well, no, not planning. But I'm not big on plans, anyway. I prefer to just do whatever comes to mind these days. Much more fun. Plans never work out the way you want them to, anyway."

"that's nice, but your philosophies don't interest me. don't do anything dangerous while you're in someone else's body, a'ight? that's just rude."

"Yeah? Well, you can't tell me what to do."

Without another word, the intruder steered the human's body back to the living room. There was a quaint little kitchen of sorts there. And where there's a kitchen, there's food. He was starving. How long has it been since he ate? That probably depends on your definition of "eating".

* * *

A clattering noise from the kitchen woke the tired woman from her turbulent sleep. Was anyone in there? Could only be Frisk... What time was it? A little after five...

Suppressing a curse, the woman raised herself from her bed with tired limbs. Why was Frisk up at this hour? She didn't get enough sleep as it is, without having to worry about her kid being up to something at the crack of dawn.

Throwing on a bathrobe and stumbling into the living room, she spotted her child by the kitchen sink. Although this was undeniably Frisk, their current behavior wasn't like any child she raised. Standing there in their jammies, cramming dry bread into their mouth, barely taking the time to chew and letting bits and pieces fall from their mouth and onto the floor... It was like they had forgotten all their manners overnight.

"Ahh-hem," she cleared her throat, with a deliberate, reprimanding loudness to it. It attracted the child's attention, who put the half-eaten slice they held in their hands on the counter and turned around with the brattiest look she'd ever seen on their face. They paused for several seconds to swallow the chunks of bread still in their mouth before addressing her.

"What do you want?"

Well, that was just the cherry on top.

"What do I want? You get up at five in the morning, stuff your face full of bread and make a big mess of things in the process, pull me out of bed with all this noise, and you're asking me what I want? An apology, for starters! And while you're at it, maybe an explanation as to why you're not still in bed right now!"

Their expression contorted all of a sudden, switching back and forth between an annoyed sneer and an apologetic grin several times before finally settling on the latter. "Ah, uh, sorry, mommy dear. Dunno what came over me. Sometimes you wake up so hungry, you're _not yourself_ anymore, you know?" they snickered.

She certainly never heard Frisk address her with "mommy dear" before. Something was up with them this morning, that was for sure. But for the life of her, she couldn't even fathom what would cause this behavior. The only thing she knew is that it wasn't acceptable.

"Well, here's what's going to happen. First, you will clean up this mess. Second, you're going to take a shower, you look greasy. Third, you'll put on some clean clothes. Then you're going to make yourself a proper breakfast and get ready to go to school. And this is the last time you do... this. Do I make myself clear?"

To her surprise, instead of nodding and wordlessly doing as she instructed, like she knew Frisk would usually do when scolded, that rude look from earlier returned. "How about... no? I don't have time to listen to your prattling, you miserable woman. And I've got better to do than going to school."

Needless to say, that struck a nerve. "Ex **cuse** me, Frisk? What was that?"

"I said-" Frisk's whole demeanor shifted mid-sentence. Now they were nervously smiling up at her, desperate to get on her good side again. "Uh, what I meant to say was I'll go do that. Sorry about that. I guess I'm a little out of it today, huh...?"

She gave her kid a perplexed look for a second, then closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know what possessed you this morning."

As she turned to go back to her room, she could swear she heard Frisk mumble, "You wouldn't believe that if I told you."

* * *

Frisk let out a loud yawn and stretched their arms as they awakened from a good night's rest.

"Good morning, Frisk! Sleep well?" An annoyingly chipper voice somewhere behind them asked. Wait, behind them? But the head of their bed was up against a wall...

Frisk flinched as they noticed their English teacher standing over them. Situational awareness finally kicked in as they realized they weren't in bed, but at school, sitting at a desk. That was a shocker, all right. They were fully awake in an instant, but severely disoriented. "Wuh, what?! I, uh..."

The teacher sighed. "Try to pay attention in class, yeah?"

"...Uh-huh," Frisk replied, blinking in confusion.

"Ah, you've finally woken up, whew. You're a heavy sleeper, you know that? Been yelling at you for a while now." Undyne's voice cut in.

 _What...? Undyne? What happened? I don't remember anything..._

"well, sport, that would be because there's pretty much nothing to remember. for you, anyway," Sans told them. Not that his explanation helped any.

 _What's that supposed to mean?_

"Your confusion is understandable, Frisk. You have only just gotten up, after all. We walked you to school this morning," Toriel helpfully clarified.

 _And why is that, pray tell? Is my alarm clock broken or something?_

"Nope! It's because li'l old me decided to take your body for a joyride this morning. Hope you don't mind!"

A new voice. It had an obviously forced sweetness to it that was all too familiar to Frisk.

 _Flowey?!_

"The one and only, your ol' pal Flowey the Flower! Small world, isn't it? We keep running into each other..." His tone was taunting, like he knew his presence wasn't exactly welcome with everyone.

"Sheesh, he's much more strong-willed than he looks... Took the lot of us to keep him on the right track," Undyne commented.

Flowey scoffed. "Yeah, well, you know as well as I do that school is a giant waste of time. They only teach you things you're never going to find useful. Can't we go do something more fun?"

"maybe you should've brought some cheese with you to go with all that _whine_ ," Sans cut in, to which Flowey just harrumphed. As far as Frisk was concerned, Flowey complaining about having to go to school with them was just a minor nuisance compared to him wanting to become a god by stealing people's souls and torturing them for all eternity. At the very least, he'd gotten a lot less dangerous and a lot more petty.

 _So he showed up before I woke up and wanted to go wherever, but luckily you were there to stop him from getting us into a traffic accident. Is that all I missed?_

"well, his idea of getting breakfast wasn't very well-mannered. i think your mom might be cross with you."

Flowey chuckled to himself, but made no further comment. Frisk resisted the urge to sigh.

 _Great. So, Flowey, what brings you here?_

"Well, there I was, watching you all leaving the Underground and being on your merry way, allowing me some peace and quiet. Then, suddenly, you all disappeared. Poof, gone into thin air. Naturally, it had me a mite confused, so I went over to investigate. Found nothing, though! Your footprints just stopped. Good riddance!" Flowey kept up his usual chipper facade, but Frisk could tell that everyone suddenly disappearing without a trace caused him a great deal of distress. He must have felt lonely.

"So, I spent a couple weeks just basking in the sunlight and enjoying some fresh rain. Feels like it's been forever since I've had such luxuries, you know? Then one day, whatever force made you all vanish must've figured it forgot about li'l old me, and that's when I woke up here. At least, that's the way I remember it."

 _Wait, "forgot"? That... might be an important clue!_

"What makes you think that?"

 _A force of nature doesn't just "forget" and "remember" things. If it passed you over the first time and then went back to get you later, that means there's a conscious mind, a person, who's behind all this!_

"...Huh. Hadn't thought of that."

Frisk's train of thought was promptly derailed by something soft impacting against the back of their head. Looking around, Frisk noticed a prop of wadded paper on the floor behind them. The teacher had stepped out at the moment for some reason or another, so whoever threw it wasn't going to get reprimanded any time soon. Frisk did notice Robert glaring at them, so he was the likely assailant. Wordlessly, Frisk picked up the paper and unfolded it.

"AFTeR THe lAST Bell iN FRoNT oF ScHooL We SETTlE THiS", it said in uneven, scribbled letters.

 _What's his problem this time?_

"Oh, right, that idiot. When we got to school, he was waiting there and he started heckling me, or rather, you," Flowey began.

 _Well, that's par for the course._

"So when we passed him and he started following us around, I stuck out my leg and tripped him up. It was hilarious! You shoulda seen his reaction!" Flowey proudly exclaimed.

 _You... I... Well, that explains his beef with me. I can imagine what his reaction was like._

"Well, you wouldn't have this problem if I had my little way. He was cursing up a storm at me, so I went over to kick him in the ribs a few times so he'd know to leave us alone for good. Those other losers tried to stop me, but they couldn't."

"Sorry, F-Frisk. He's very d-determined, eheh," Alphys commented with a tinge of guilt. She knew exactly how the flower got so determined in the first place.

"But then some dweeb with glasses ran up to us and tried to talk me out of it, during which that other guy had stood up and ran off," Flowey continued.

 _That would be Ben, probably._

"That would be the kid who needs to learn to mind his own business, you mean," the angry little plant spat back. "It was strange, though. He looked and talked as if he knew I wasn't really you. Did you tell him anything?"

 _No... It's strange. He just sort of managed to guess my... situation. It's like he had prior knowledge of monsters existing. And yet he didn't seem entirely sure of it, either._

"...Well, that's interesting," Flowey commented after a brief pause. "I wouldn't trust him if I were you. It's highly suspicious that he knows something we don't."

"Oh, don't worry; I intend to shake some answers out of him sooner or later," Undyne cut in.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," the flower taunted.

"What, so you think you're better than me, do you?!"

 _Guys, please, no arguing in my head! It's disorienting._

"Hah! What're you gonna do about it, think me into submission?" came Flowey's barbed response.

 _Fine, have it your way._

For the remainder of the day, Frisk and the other monsters collectively agreed to give Flowey the silent treatment, seeing as he was clearly just looking to pick a fight and giving him the attention he craved would only encourage him. Flowey, forced to relinquish control of Frisk's body and having been reduced to an impotent ball of rage, did not take this well, cursing up a storm for the first half an hour or so. The only response he got was the occasional admonishment from Toriel or Papyrus to watch his language. Around lunchtime, he finally calmed down, something Frisk was very thankful for.

* * *

Humming a random tune, Frisk stepped out of the classroom and into the abandoned hallway. The teacher had wanted to talk to them about a few school-related matters after class, so they were out later than everyone else. Their humming was interrupted when Flowey piped up for perhaps the thirteenth time that day.

"Ugh. Why do you have to be so annoyingly chipper? You were never this expressive before!"

 _Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?_

"I'm soulless! I have an excuse!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE A SOUL, FLOWEY?! WELL, DON'T WORRY, I'LL HELP YOU FIND ONE!" Papyrus helpfully offered, to which Flowey just grumbled a few not-very-nice-sounding words which Frisk cared not to learn the meaning of.

Having reached the coat rack, Frisk reached for the easily recognizable fluffy-brimmed hood. Not that it was very hard to pick out their coat from the others in the first place, given that there were only two or three still there. Swinging the coat over their shoulders, they put their arms through the sleeves and their hands in the pockets in one smooth motion, deciding not to zip up since the weather today was pleasantly warm anyway.

But as they turned to leave, a realization began to dawn on them, one which only confused them at first, then soon mounted into anxious panic. They began hurriedly checking every pocket they had.

"Is something the matter, Frisk? Did you forget something?" Toriel asked.

 _My key._

"Your key?"

 _The key to the apartment. I had it in my coat pocket, now it's gone. I can't get in without that!_

"Well, that's a bit of a pickle," Mettaton commented. "Try and stay calm about this. Do you remember where you last saw it, darling?"

"Hey! You! Petal boy!" Undyne cut in. "Did you drop it somewhere?!"

"Oh, so now it's MY fault again? How should I know? I was distracted! Never been in a human city before, you know!" Flowey shot back. "And don't call me "Petal boy"! The name's Flowey, Flowey the-"

 _Guys! Quit squabbling and help me look!_ Frisk was frantically scanning the floor for any small metal objects, with little success.

"How? We only have one pair of eyes between the lot of us, and you're using them yourself, stupid."

 _Then shut up and stop distracting me already!_

"She started it!"

"No, YOU started it by dropping the key in the first place!"

"I told you, I-"

 _I DON'T CARE! JUST BE QUIET!_

All of a sudden, everything froze. Frisk's searching, Flowey and Undyne's arguing... Everything was silent. Everything, except for one noise. It was a very specific jangling, high-pitched noise, like... Like somebody in the distance was tossing up a key chain and catching it, then tossing it again, over and over. The hallway was silent except for that one noise, making the source easy to locate. Frisk's head slowly turned to the door outside, into the schoolyard out front, which was ajar, letting the sound come through loud and clear. In that one moment, it all clicked together, and Frisk knew exactly who and what to expect beyond those doors.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, heh heh, It's been a while, hasn't it..? I wonder how many people who followed this story when I first began are still around to read this. I'd hoped to avoid absurdly long pauses between chapters like this. But life had other plans.

That said, I've got good news: I wrote a couple chapters ahead this time, so I should be able to update with some degree of reliability for now. Hopefully. I'll do my best, at least.


	14. Confrontation

Apart from the sound of Robert idly tossing up the key chain and catching it again, over and over, there was silence. Only the ambient noises of traffic somewhere in the distance and the wind helped fill up the tense atmosphere. Which was amazing, considering Robert's friends were all there. Normally, they would never shut up for longer than two seconds at a time... But now, not a peep. They stood in a half circle behind Robert, watching. Waiting in anticipation. They all knew what was about to happen.

At the very least, they didn't look like they would interfere. To Robert's credit, he was not one to gang up on someone. He picked fights that never needed to happen, but he personally finished what he started and did not hide behind others- although he probably only did so because he knew he was the stronger one anyway.

"Hey there, Frisk! Looking for something?" The forced quality to Robert's friendly, saccharine tone of voice was far too obvious. Frisk knew that was deliberate, intended as a taunt, so they tried not to let it get to them.

"That's mine. Give it back, please." Although Frisk really didn't believe asking politely would work at this stage, they at least wanted to try.

"Oh, this?" Robert innocently looked at the key in his hand, playing dumb. "You want it?" He held it out to Frisk, but when they reached to take it, he quickly raised his arm, out of their reach. They futilely hopped up to reach it a couple times, which only earned them mocking laughter from Robert's friends.

Frisk looked Robert straight in the eyes, trying to come across as seriously as possible. "This is going too far. You can't take that. That's stealing."

"Whoa, whoa, you calling me a thief, now? I found this in the hallway, you must've dropped it. And here I was trying to be nice, wanting to return it to you... But now that you've insulted me..." Robert grinned, but his smile was joyless; all Frisk could see in it was spite and malice. "So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to hit me again? Go ahead. I know you can do it."

Frisk quickly exhaled once to calm their nerves. They weren't going to fall for his taunts. They knew petty conflicts like this could be resolved without violence and they had no intention of straying from that philosophy. "Please just give it back. Let's not do this."

"And what if I say no? If you can't take it from me and you're not going to hit me, then your only choice is to get help. But who is gonna help you, Frisk? The friends you don't have?" Robert's buddies all started snickering as Robert spoke, their tone full of contempt for Frisk. What did they ever do to them? Papyrus tried to protest that Frisk had lots of friends, but Frisk couldn't hear what he was saying as Robert continued.

"Or maybe the teachers, who just do their job and don't really care about you? I think they'd rather pretend they can't hear you so they don't have to deal with this. Or are you gonna call for mommy and daddy?" Despite the effort to stay calm and not listen to Robert, Frisk could feel their heart rate increasing and their breath quickening. Somewhere they could hear Toriel saying something, but it sounded so distant. Robert was easily louder than her. "Oh, that's right, Frisk. Your mom is too busy to love you. You sometimes say that she has to work very hard. Don't you feel bad, that she has to suffer so much just to keep someone as miserable as you alive? And your dad, he never loved you to begin with, isn't that right?"

Everything slowly faded away. Robert's friends and their jeering, the monsters' voices, the surrounding environment... Frisk closed their eyes to try and get a grip on reality, but only Robert's cutting voice kept mercilessly droning on. "If you still don't get the picture, let me spell it out for you. Nobody loves you. Nobody even likes you. People only tolerate your existence because they feel like they have to. Well, I'm done pretending like I can even stand the sight of you. I think you should just go away... and never come back."

A feeling Frisk didn't recognize at first came over them like a thick sludge pouring into every crevice of their mind. When they did realize what the feeling was, they were instantly afraid- of themself. It was hatred. So much of it. Frisk didn't want to hate. If they had to, they wanted to hate things, not people. But there was no stopping it. It overtook their consciousness. It was white and red and black and searing hot and ice cold, until Frisk was no longer able to feel anything else.

And then it all happened fast.

Frisk's body moved as if possessed. A fist struck Robert in the side of his stomach. He reflexively doubled over, moving his head right into the other fist's upward trajectory, hitting him around his cheekbone. He was stumbling back now, dazed. As his brain processed the pain he was now in, his fingers loosened; the key was easily snagged from him. With a swift kick to one of his kneecaps, Robert fell to his side and curled up, groaning. One more stomp to the abdomen for good measure reduced the boy to a little ball of suffering.

It was only several seconds after the fact when Frisk regained their senses. Robert's friends were all making "Ooooh" noises but made no move to intervene or help Robert, too much in awe of what just happened before their eyes. Frisk could hear Papyrus making incredulous noises, clearly lost for words, while Toriel was trying to say their name, but her voice was failing her. Robert just lay there, whimpering at Frisk's feet.

"W-W-Wuh-What did you just _do_?!" Alphys finally managed to stutter out.

"F-FRISK! I KNOW THAT ROBERT HUMAN WAS NOT BEING VERY NICE TO YOU, BUT THAT WAS NOT VERY NICE EITHER!" Papyrus added.

 _I don't know what happened! That... I don't know what came over me!_

"Hee hee... So you _do_ have it in you after all!" Flowey gleefully noted. "The capacity for malice... I knew it. From the moment I first saw you..."

 _N-no...! I would never! That wasn't..._

Frisk's attention was drawn away from the conversation in their head and back to the world outside as Robert began stirring. His friends began cheering and chanting "Fight, fight, fight!" As he slowly got up, Frisk caught a glance of Robert's eyes. The look in them made it clear that he was currently in an adrenaline-induced stupor and not about to walk away quietly. Not until he tasted revenge.

Frisk realized, then, that it was time to leave. They spun on their heels and began running towards home as fast as they could.

 _I didn't do that... I couldn't have..._ As Frisk ran, they considered the possibilities. One immediately stuck out. _Undyne! Did you...?_

"What? No! You made it clear last time that you weren't happy with me interfering, so I decided to respect that!" Undyne sounded offended, but honest.

 _But then... Flowey...?_

"Oh, I'd love to take credit for that, but nope! It was aaaaaall you."

"W-We should worry about who did what later! He's gaining on us!" Alphys warned. Sure enough, Frisk could hear Robert running somewhere behind them, some distance away but steadily getting closer. They broke into full sprint.

 _I, huff, I don't think I'm gonna, huff, make it much further...!_

"I have an idea! Round that corner and then hit him with your magic!" Undyne shouted.

Frisk didn't know what she was planning, but they decided to trust her. After they passed the corner, they dug in their heels and spun around, facing the corner. Seconds later, Robert burst around at full speed. He broke into a charge as he spotted them. Now it came down to timing...

 **"HAH!"**

A blinding flash erupted in front of Frisk. They knew it was coming and quickly adjusted, but Robert stumbled and grabbed at a nearby wall to maintain his balance.

"Okay! Now let me take over for a bit!" Undyne insisted. Frisk did so. "There you are..." she mumbled to herself as the orange soul came into focus.

 _Orange stands for bravery, right?_

"If that's what you want to call it," Flowey derisively commented.

"...Ngah!" Undyne let out a small cry. Immediately, Robert's soul turned green. Just then, he managed to regain his sight and tried running again, only for his legs to fail him, firmly rooted in place. He helplessly fell forward, landing on his hands and knees.

"Fuhuhuhu! Now we just throw a few spears- Hey!" Undyne flinched as Frisk took control back from her, immediately going back to running.

 _Thanks Undyne, but I'd rather just get out of here while I can!_

"Always with the running... Fine then! Have it your way!" The warrior growled in response.

* * *

Robert sharply inhaled through his teeth as his palms seared in pain. His skin was scraped from the fall. It didn't look serious, but it still hurt. He mentally added it to the ever growing list of offenses he intended to give Frisk payback for. There would be time to lick his wounds later. Now it was time for retribution. With a grunt, he got back up and resumed the chase.

It's not like he really wanted to hurt them (much), but he simply had to put them in their place. Before, there was always a turbulent but peaceful status quo in the school's social environment. He never liked them and they never liked him. That was fine. They were both unpleasant to each other every day, he through banter and badgering, they through passive-aggressiveness and dirty looks. It was the natural order of things. It never had to become anything more or less than that. Simply two kids who didn't like each other. Happens all the time.

But lately, Frisk had changed and now the balance was gone. It was Frisk who suddenly kept defying him, it was Frisk who got violent with him and it was Frisk who now forced Robert to either accept a physical confrontation or lose his social standing. The fact that they were running away from it like a coward just made it worse.

Robert never liked Frisk, but now he hated them. He could stomach all kinds of people, but not cowards. He would get them for this. Today.

Even bruised and with the wind knocked out of him, Robert was still faster than Frisk. And Frisk knew it. They wouldn't even reach the end of the street if they kept running, so they turned somewhere and went into a building. Robert knew the place. It was an old warehouse where kids sometimes hung out after school. The place was full of empty rooms and dead ends. Trapping Frisk there would be easy.

Sure enough, as badly as Frisk tried to lose him in the abandoned corridors, he kept closing the distance further. He eventually saw them scurrying into a small storeroom, slamming the door shut behind them. Now he had them. He grabbed the handle, took a breath and tried to go in... Only, the door wouldn't open. At first he thought it was locked somehow, but the door budged slightly. Something was stuck between, keeping it in place. He could hear Frisk snickering inside. It was a very annoying laugh, like "nyah hah hah". Were they mocking him? Did they think barring the door would stop him?

No matter. That's just another thing for which they were about to pay. He kicked the door as hard as he could, but it still wouldn't open. He kicked again. There was a slight cracking noise. Encouraged, he slammed his foot against the door one last time, this time throwing it wide open. Whatever object was keeping it closed snapped like a twig. It sounded nauseatingly like breaking bones. Yet, when Robert looked at the ground, there was no trace of whatever it was.

"Hey there, bucko. How're your hands? That looked like a nasty fall back there."

Frisk was leaning against the back wall of the room, hands in pockets and wearing a relaxed grin on their face. Too relaxed for Robert's tastes. He resisted the urge to just lunge at them and instead closed the door behind him. It was the only way out of the room, so now they couldn't run anymore. He carefully paced towards Frisk. This time, if they tried attacking him again, he was ready.

But they didn't. They just eyeballed him as he very slowly approached. When he was only a couple paces away from punching distance they finally stirred, raising their hand in the traditional gesture for "stop".

"I don't want to hurt you anymore. I'm sorry for ever hurting you in the first place. If you leave, we can end this now. But I'm warning you, if you take one more step... You really won't like what happens next."

He could see a glint in their eye as they said that last part. But he wasn't scared of them. He had no reason to be. He was the stronger one, so they had to be scared of him. He had to _make_ them scared of him.

With that thought, he grimaced and stepped forward, rearing his arm back to strike them, to hurt them as they had hurt him.

But Frisk was faster. With one hand, they pushed him in the chest. Their hand had barely connected when Robert felt his feet losing contact with the ground.

Then the world was a blur. Everything moved so fast, Robert could only squeeze his eyes shut. He felt his back slam against a wall, then his body collapsing forward. When he regained his senses, he was lying face-down on the floor.

"Word of advice: Don't move for a while. Just lie down for a minute. See ya."

Ignoring Frisk's words, Robert tried to get up, only to give up immediately when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, like an incorporeal weapon sticking through him. Once he stopped moving, the pain immediately went away. It was only when he moved his chest; moving his head and limbs separately did not result in such pain.

He clenched his hands into tight fists. Frisk had humiliated him again. They had to pay. Maybe he could grab their legs to stop them from leaving...

But when he moved his head to look, he found that Frisk was gone. Yet... Robert was certain he had not heard the sound of footsteps, or of the door opening and closing again. It was like they had vanished on the spot.

And so Robert laid there on the dirty floor, in impotent rage, waiting for the pain in his chest to wear off so he could stand up again. Although he did not want to admit it, nor was he sure how... Frisk had bested him. How could he have let it come to this? Was he... too weak?

* * *

 _Huff... Huff... That was close..._

"you said it. i won't be trying that again. we barely made it."

Frisk was leaning against the outside wall of the warehouse, utterly exhausted. Papyrus had tried blocking the door with a well-placed bone in the hopes of preventing further violence by stopping Robert's entry. When that didn't work, Sans had taken over. His method had succeeded- a quick combo of the blue attack, a light blue bone between his shoulder blades to delay him and a "shortcut" to outside for a quick exit- but it had taken everything out of them.

"Oh heavens... Such violence among children..." Toriel lamented. "If only I had my own body, I might have been able to prevent this fruitless conflict. Neither you nor Robert deserved to go through this, Frisk."

"Really, I blame your indecision," Flowey remarked. "You normally try to solve things without violence. You wanna do it your way, and that's fine by me. Imagine my surprise when you suddenly started beating him up. That's an even better idea! But then finish the job!" He put on his snarling voice. Although Frisk couldn't see his face, they could imagine one of his many demonic expressions. "Next time you find that brat sniveling at your feet, don't run away! Kick him so he'll learn not to mess with you again!"

 _But I... I don't want to... I mean, it was never my intention to..._

"Bah! I know, you're a goody two-shoes and you don't want to believe you have it in you to do something so cruel to someone else. But we all saw it just now! You do have it in you! That was brutal! Couldn't have done it better myself!" The flower's voice was full of glee. Frisk thought of who Flowey really was, how much the real him actually hated violence. For his own sake, they had to stop him from relapsing into his old mindset. "After all-"

 _Yeah, yeah, kill or be killed. Well, I don't want to kill anybody, or even hurt anybody._

"That's right, you believe you won't kill. But in the end, you also don't want to BE killed, isn't that right? If someone pushes you hard enough, you'll fight back. So, want it or not, you will hurt other people to protect yourself in the end. You might as well accept it."

"Flowey, that is enough!" Toriel cut in. "I have faith in Frisk's ability to be good. I have no doubt they will reflect on their actions today and think of a way to stop this from happening again. And I will help them with that as best as I am able. We do not need your cynical philosophies right now."

 _You say that, but..._ Frisk swallowed as they tried to line up their thoughts. _I really don't know why I attacked Robert. I never intended to raise a hand against him. Yet... He's probably still lying in there now, bruised and hurt. Because of me._

"NOW, NOW, FRISK... IT IS REGRETTABLE THAT THIS HAPPENED, BUT YOU CAN'T LET THAT KEEP YOU DOWN! YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME!" Papyrus optimistically interjected. "MAYBE WE CAN DO SOMETHING NICE FOR ROBERT TO MAKE IT UP TO HIM!"

"H-honestly, I think at this point we'll need more than "something nice" to reconcile with him... He looked really mad..." Alphys mumbled.

"Dears, I hate to interrupt while you're having a moment, but if I'm not mistaken, those are rain clouds up above, yes?" Mettaton interjected. Sure enough, the sky was dark gray. "Those clouds might start condensing soon. You had better hurry home, darling."

 _...Right._

Frisk stood up, dusted off their clothes, and started moving around the building's exterior wall towards the way they came in. They were almost out... But then they encountered a pair of strange-looking adults in the way, which instantly put them on edge. Why were they here? They were talking to each other, but Frisk couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Psst, Frisk! Who are those people?" Undyne whispered. It appeared that she had forgotten they couldn't hear her anyway.

 _I... don't know. But they don't look friendly._ The pair- a man and a woman, it looked like- were wearing matching outfits. Dark pants, a black sweater, featureless apart from a pin on their breast that looked like some sort of insignia, sunglasses and a bandanna covering their mouth. The man looked older, with gray hairs sticking among his black locks and wrinkles covering the visible parts of his face. The woman was probably in her mid-30s, wearing her brown hair in a ponytail. Frisk wanted to hide to avoid being spotted by these two, but the man saw them.

"Hey, you can come out. We won't hurt you," he called. Frisk didn't really trust him, but they decided to carefully comply. They kept their distance, however.

"Frisk, if they do anything unexpected, promise me you will run immediately," Toriel spoke. She sounded very serious. Frisk silently agreed.

"Relax, kid. We're not dangerous. We just want to ask you a couple questions," the man told them. His voice was low and hoarse; he probably smoked frequently. "My name is Adam and this is Shauna. We're actually here to protect kids like you."

"is that why you cover your face and hang around abandoned buildings, pal?" Sans remarked, but not so the man could hear.

The woman cocked her head to the side. "Just a couple questions for your own sake and we'll be on our way. Is that okay, dear?"

"Oh, you do **not** get to act so fishy and then call a child you don't even know "dear", honey," Mettaton spat.

"F-Fine. But don't get any closer," Frisk told them. They thought it best not to get on their bad side for now.

The man- "Adam", he had called himself- crouched to get closer to eye level, giving Frisk a better look at the pin on his chest. It looked like a hand gripping what looked like a broken-off horn, or perhaps a fang. Then he removed his bandanna, revealing his mouth. He could have done with a shave that morning. "Tell me, have you been getting any weird dreams lately?"

"Define 'weird'. A lot of dreams are weird."

"I don't know, uh..." Adam made circling gestures with his hand to indicate he was searching for the right words to use. "Anything that seemed too real to be a dream? Did you feel like you were really there?"

As a matter of fact, Frisk did have a 'dream' like that, but they didn't want to tell him that. "Not ringing any bells."

Frisk couldn't see the man's eyes through his sunglasses, but they could feel he was suspicious of them. It made them a little nervous. Then the woman, Shauna, reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, which she unfolded. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

On the paper were a bunch of handmade drawings. One depicted a snow-white, demonic creature, with horns and fearsome teeth and little glowering eyes, standing hunched over and wearing a nasty expression on its face, like a witch from a fairy tale about to lure children to a grim fate. Then, another such demon, this one holding a weapon of some sort and wearing a cloak, looking quite bloodthirsty. And more: a ghoulish creature hiding among trees, with small, pale lights for eyes; a frightening, armored figure standing atop a rocky peak, weapon in hand; a tormented spirit of some sort, wailing in anguish; a snarling dog-man hybrid; a giant spider surrounded by endless smaller spiders, all looking hungry... Each creature was drawn several times in various styles, but they all looked threatening.

Frisk's eyes widened slightly as they recognized these creatures. They were monsters, but they were drawn by a person who had clearly never seen one and was going off of someone else's description. The first creature was the most clearly defined, obviously resembling Toriel, but much more sinister-looking and with more, well, monstrous features.

"Uh, uhm... Those are just fantasy beasts from stories, right? What about them?" Frisk bluffed.

"But have you ever seen anything like this for yourself? Something that shouldn't exist? It doesn't matter if you're sure or not. Anything will do," Shauna replied.

"...No. No, I think I'd remember seeing something like that."

Adam inhaled through his nose. "You probably go to the school near here, right? Have any of the other kids there said anything about this?"

One other boy who knew about monsters did come to mind, but Frisk wasn't about to say anything to these two. They simply shook their head no.

Adam and Shauna exchanged a glance. Then, Adam sighed and stood up straight again. "Alright, well, if you change your mind and you do know something, let us know. This is important. You could save a lot of lives. We're always available to listen." He handed them a card with a phone number and an email address on it. Then he and Shauna wordlessly walked away, rounding the corner and disappearing from sight.

 _Who... were they...?_

"frisk, you saw that, didn't you? those drawings..."

"Was that... me?" Toriel said in a quiet voice, almost whispering. "That drawing looked so frightening. Is that what I look like to humans?"

"more importantly, from where did they learn about us?" Sans' voice was somewhere between concern and suspicion. "some kid finding out is one thing, but these jokers knowing about monsters, with... artistic depictions... and all, that's a whole other thing."

"If I may be honest, I do not like the way these ruffians looked at all. They seemed dangerous somehow," Mettaton remarked. "Frisk, promise me you will be more careful from now on. There are a lot of potential threats around and I couldn't bear to watch something happen to you."

Frisk quietly sighed to gather their emotions. _I will._

"now, how 'bout we head on home? i think we all deserve a break."

* * *

 **A/N:** Well that was certainly something, huh? Been looking forward to this chapter for quite a while.


End file.
